Mike Rowe being hypocritical

TLDR: Mike Rowe says we shouldn't be certain about things, then makes a very certain statement about retirement that is wrong.

He made a reasonable if not entirely valid statement about certainty.

[00:24:22] Mike Rowe: "Yes. Right. And certainty is the enemy of that. Absolutely. That's right. That's the biggie. It's like the minute you feel the comforting wash of certainty come over you, whether it's the climate, whether it's your elected official of choice, whether it's, it just doesn't matter what it is, right?"

"But the minute you start to really feel sure, the genuinely interesting and curious person goes. What am I missing?"

I agree with the sentiment. It is important to be skeptical and not simply take someone's word for a claim they make. There are some things I'm comfortable being certain about. I am certain that if I'm in my home and I drop a ball it will fall to the earth if no other forces act on it.

Ten minutes later he made bold statement about retirement which he spoke of with certainty.
[00:34:17] Mike Rowe: "What happens when you retire? I mean, not a single study indicates anything.[sic] good. Talk about changing your mind about something."

Anytime someone makes a definitive claim about human behavior I become very skeptical, and I was very curious what was the basis of his claim. I started doing some quick research. On the first page of Google results to the search term "studies of happiness after retirement" there were the results of a few studies, and they mostly contradicted Rowe.

An 85-year Harvard study on happiness found there are people happy in retirement. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/health-retirement-study-hrs/

The Center For Research Retirement At Boston College had some interesting findings including If individuals say that they voluntarily retired, they express much higher levels of well-being compared to those who did not voluntarily retire. https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2005/02/ib_28_508.pdf

A 2024 MassMutual Retirement Happiness Study on happiness found about 67% of retirees who are 15 years or less into retirement said they're happier since retiring https://www.massmutual.com/global/media/shared/doc/2024_massmutual_retirement_happiness_study.pdf

There was one study that showed people not being happy after retirement, and that was done in China. Does Retirement Make People Happier?-Evidence From China https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9247314/

I can't help but wonder what bias he is carrying to make such an absurd statement and he did nothing to change my mind about retirement. Actually he inadvertently showed me it is very possible to have a good retirement.

Mike Rowe has lost credibility with me.