Stop confusing volatility with Risk

I was recently watching a video featuring Ray Dalio, where he advocates for heavy diversification across multiple asset classes, a mix of gold, equities, bonds, bitcoin, and real estate, to minimize portfolio volatility. However, I believe fearing volatility only makes sense if you have a short time horizon. For long term investors, conflating volatility with risk is a fundamental mistake, they are two entirely different things. Take cash sitting in a bank account: its volatility is virtually zero compared to a global equity index ETF, yet over the long run, holding cash guarantees a permanent loss of purchasing power due to inflation. Meanwhile, the actual risk of holding a global index over a 20 year horizon is effectively negligible. Historically speaking, across any 20 year rolling window in modern market history, a broadly diversified global index has never delivered a negative return. It has consistently beaten inflation, preserving and compounding wealth. Therefore, using volatility as a primary proxy for risk is a massive misconception, yet it’s a mistake I see people make all the time. What are your thoughts on this?