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From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • Wow he is very smart

  • I had no idea this dude was not only this smart but so insightful!

  • Genius.

  • Run for president! RUN FOR PRESIDENT!!!

  • @llucaslives

    I AGREE!!!!!

  • I no , you young people, do not won't to work out side, #2 maybe Mr.Mike Rowe, could be the man in the white House, I do not think he could do no harm, look at the grate man that is in there now,.( He ask ) what we would like to see, this is what I think I like to see him do.

  • @thewooforfun "If you don't want to work at McDonald's or dig a ditch, you'd better go to college!"

    *18 years later*

    "What the Hell? Too good for honest work? Yes, I see your Masters degree, but still!"

    Frankly, it isn't this generation's fault that they're so averse to blue collar work. It's been instilled in them since birth that physical labor was an undesirable outcome in their life and career, and were essentially promised (falsely) that they could avoid it with education.

  • @ComedicShinigami I have a college degree. But I would rather work doing something physical then sit behind a desk for the rest of my life!

  • Love Mike. Would enjoy seeing him held and given a couple of surprise gut punches at the end of a show by his crew members. The expression on his face would be priceless.

  • Mike Rowe 2016

  • I saw the episode of the guy who picks up the leftover food. I am stunned the amount of food wasteage in the United States let alone my country of Canada

  • How have I *not* seen this before?

  • Mike Rowe for PRESIDENT! The man is for the people and he is intelligent.

  • I'm college educated, but I was always told as a child that there is no shame in hard work. I think we need to stop viewing blue collar people as less intelligent, because it's simply not true. I know for a fact that if my car broke down or my sink exploded I would be on the phone with a plumber or a mechanic.

  • "Safety Third" sounds great - until you're that person in a job your family depends on, stuck in a workplace where shareholder profit takes precedence over the condition of your physical safety. I understand what Mike's saying, but there's a reason we beat up the point on "safety first". Workers become disposable cogs in production line if our welfare isn't constantly fought for. Mike is a romantic. The reality of unchecked physical labor is broken, used up people.

  • You would never know how much this man had to say until I heard this talk. You can really appreciate the show and the hard-working people behind it. Manual labor needs to be a very important thing that should be honored.

  • this is really funny

  • 35 Lambs didn't like this..

  • he is...... . . .  amazing.

  • Very smart and very funny. Does anyone else think he sounds like Brian Cranston?

  • I think you have just bridged a gap that a few people needed to hear. As a welder who grew up on a farm and thought the grass was greener on the white collar side then came back to blue collar. You nailed it Mike.....Keep it up!

  • This guy is just so open, honest, and well spoken. He encourages people who don't get a college education to learn a trade, and you can make a hell of a good living doing something else.

  • He should really try some dirty job's over here in the uk

  • Mike for President!

  • And that is how you boss a presentation, with testicles

  • This Ted talk is one of the most inspiring and different of all others. Just look at what every1 is doin' get a step back and do the opposite.

  • Mike Rowe for President?

  • I think the biggest problem is that we look down on people who do dirty jobs/construction jobs etc. so there are a lot of people wasting their money getting a degree in college in something that they are never going to be great at, when they would be much better off doing a dirty job. and after they have their college degree, they are too proud or something to do a dirty job.

  • I will say this...I've had lots of jobs...dog & cat kennel worker, golf course laborer, pizza delivery driver, substitute teacher, personal trainer, therapy assistant, waiter and bartender, organic farmer, graduate assistant, multi level marketer, construction worker, & others...looking back, my most fulfilling work was working outdoors, in the fresh (& not so fresh) air, working with my hands, and coming home dog tired, feeling like I'd earned my money...hard work can be therapeutic to the soul

  • Mike Rowe should do a show about the Foxconn factory, lets get some real perspective about these technical marvels in everyone's pocket.

  • 34 dislikes, all OSHA.

  • I agree with a lot of what he has to say, especially on the dignity of work, but he's missing some very important pieces to the puzzle. If I had to highlight one of them, it would be the reality that from 1980s, manual labour has been under attack from very powerful institutions. You simply cannot talk about this issue, without confronting the reality that manufacturing jobs have been exported en masse for 30 years, and that the real wages for American workers have stagnated in that same period.

  • @MrHennessy30

    Try exporting a plumber, an electrician or a welder. All skilled service industry jobs he was talking about.

  • For all of those in the comments section who say, "Wow, he's brilliant, so smart" etc, you should really understand that all the knowledge that gave him this insight is before you as well. Perhaps the reason you find him so smart is that you dont care to enhance your education. Think about it. Everything he said was well put and clear. I wouldn't say he's smart though, just knows how to speak of what he knows. I love Greek tragedy as much as the next guy ^_^

  • Self Reliance is the Key to survival.

  • This is pretty fucking brilliant.

  • This is one smart person. When I grow up, I want to think just like him!

  • @hoaxygen "When I grow up, I want to think just like him."

    What a terrible idea. Progress is made only by thinking differently from those who came before. Sure, some first principles are worth having, but wanting to think like someone else and not use your own mind is a kind of slavery. Your heart is in the right place but your words deceive you. Re-think what you just wrote and stop this "folksy wisdom" bs. ^_^

  • @HumaneAnon "think just like him" is not the same as "think the same thing as him." There is nothing wrong with putting value in a good thought process. To "think just like" anyone is to simply follow their example of looking at an issue (for better or worse...) but it doesn't mean that the answers will be the same. A fine example is the philosophers from long ago. Many were taught by the same man but came to different realizations in their own application of the thought process.

  • @hoaxygen Why wait until you grow up :O

  • hes smart

  • I agree with Rowe that we really look down on blue collar work, but I think we look down on educated work too. I was a college instructor for two years, and I was amazed by the level of contempt I received for being intellectual. (For the record, I was a damn good instructor; my students had a good time and they learned a ton.)

    So if we're look down on those who work with their hands and those who work with their books, who the hell are we idolizing?

  • @encliticcopula The guys that get everything handed to them and the stupid

  • recommend this to stumbleupon!

  • Comment removed

  • "I also call PETA, just for fun..."

    

  • I have an interesting stuff folder on my bookmarks bar. Its mostly filled with TEDTalks

  • just bite em off. yup.

  • oh my god his voice is so beautiful

  • i want him to be my dad... imagine being woken up for school every morning by his voice

  • Mike is awesome 

  • I don't understand how anyone could "dislike" this video. Probably couldn't handle the castration talk???

  • @scoves9484 If you're not watching it, how do you know it's that bad??

    Nice way to stay informed...anyway, I don't care...

    That's what opinions are for...mine differ from yours...let's leave it at that ok?

  • @scoves9484 Yes I am...Look up some of his sections "New Rules"...IMO he talks sense

    Also see his documentery "Religilous"...

  • MIKE ROWE: I challenge you to do a show on Factory Farms where they use extreme confinement methods Battery Cages & Gestation Crate. 99% of chickens and turkeys are on factory farms, since those birds never step foot outdoors. (And considering that poultry make up more than 95% of farm animals in the US, it’s safe to say that nearly all farm animals are on factory farms.

  • @julieveggie This isn't your medium for your pseudoempathic selfish bullshit, this video has nothing to do with your batshit self-important paranoia. Don't bother hiding behind your pathetic facade, anyone who isn't on your horrendous excuse for a level of intellect will see right through it. You are a terrible human being.

  • @bcbarker So you must approve of animal cruelty!

  • ON ALL FACTORY FARMS THEY PRACTICE EXTREME CONFINEMENT!

    Google: BATTERY CAGES confine five to 11 hens. With each hen given less than half a square foot of living space (an area less than a standard 8.5" x 11" piece of paper), she is unable to walk freely or even fully stretch her wings. Do you approve of this type of confinement?

  • ON ALL FACTORY FARMS THEY PRACTICE EXTREME CONFINEMENT!

    Google: GESTATION CRATE, is a 7 ft by 2 ft metal enclosure used in which a female breeding pig confined during pregnancy, for most of her adult life. Pigs are unable to move around one bit. Do you approve?

  • MISLEADING! 99% of chickens and turkeys are on factory farms, since those birds never step foot outdoors. (And considering that poultry make up more than 95% of farm animals in the US, it’s safe to say that nearly all farm animals are on factory farms.

  • Words to live by! Hard work pays off-maning up, taking responsibility, doing what needs to be done. We are responsible for ourselves and must take responsibility for our own actions. Don't be so quick to judge or think that you know all - even when you think you know something you can be very wrong! There's always 2 points of views

  • Words to live by! Hard work pays off-maning up, taking responsibility, doing what needs to be done. We are responsible for ourselves and must take responsibility for our own actions. Don't be so quick to judge or think that you know all - even when you think you know something you can be very wrong!

  • OH WOW! No teleprompter!

  • Comment removed

  • It was worth watching but the sentiment is mistaken. The other side of what he calls the "war on work" is rising productivity. Take the manufacturing sector - it's not just that headcount in that sector is declining in the US, it's declining worldwide as processes and people become more efficient. For "skilled labor" it's the same thing. Enrollment in trade schools is declining because the work that is done is of higher quality and thus, lower demand for replacement and repair work.

  • @azsandhawk You are making an assumption that increasing productivity is always a good thing. Maybe, just maybe, human wellbeing hinges on more than 'how much work can be done per man hour.'

  • @syrinor Increasing productivity means higher production with fewer inputs (capital, energy, labor). Thus, we get more stuff for less money - and lower environmental impact.The goal is to reduce the price of everything produced so that everyone can afford what they need while simultaneously improving quality of life. Better productivity means more leisure time, better pay and more opportunity for workers to improve their lives by spending time on things like education and exercise.

  • @syrinor A brief addition: Rising productivity is, in fact, all about human well being. If a worker can be paid the same for fewer hours of work (think how plumber's rates have risen over the years), is that not better for the worker? Is it not also better for society, since goods (and services) are that much more abundant? Over the last 200 or so years, that has been the general trend. The by-product of more stuff for less work is the improvement of people's working lives.

  • @azsandhawk It does not matter how cheap goods are if no one can afford to buy them. This is why most of our country is running on credit. If human wellbeing is increasing as a result of what we are calling "rising productivity," you must explain the growing wealth gap, the drastic diminishment of natural resources, and the falling standard of living in many parts of the world. If our lives are improving, it is a short-term improvement at the expense of long-term human wellbeing.

  • @syrinor I was trying to avoid any sort of statement regarding class. It may surprise you to know that I'm something of a socialist and that we probably agree on much. What I do not believe is that manufacturing jobs (as have been known in the past) will ever becoming back to the US. The world has changed and people must adjust. This is going to have to be another two parter, since that's only a general statement.

  • @syrinor To answer some of your charges, as far as manufacturing in general goes, per unit inputs have been going down, so we're already producing more with less. It's the demand side that's exploding - globally. As far as the uneven distribution of profits goes, that will correct itself in time - already in China, for example, wages are, despite what you're pushing, rising. You're also neglecting the role that recycling of resources plays in just about every sector.

  • @syrinor And finally, what we're experiencing in the US is a temporary phenomena brought on by a societal bias against higher education and a willingness on the part of policy makers to subsidize certain actors without accountability (when I said earlier that I something of a socialist, I believe in a socialism with accountability, responsiveness and real data) . Things are bad, right now in the US, yes. But there is no reason to believe that this will persist.

  • @syrinor A final thought: It's a lot easier to throw metaphorical bombs and say everything sucks (much like the Tea Party people here in the US) without offering any sort of feasible solutions for the problems at hand. Regardless of how we feel about it, productivity is rising. We can either adjust to the new world (that everyone else around the world is participating in and making money as part of) or we can fight it kicking and screaming...And watch it go the way it's going anyway.

  • awesome speech!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • I give props to anybody that uses "anagnorisis" in normal conversation, but I think the point he makes at 17:03 is profound, not just in the context of this talk, but about societal perceptions of creativity as a whole.

  • @djryce This isn't normal conversation (TED talk presentation) and neither is quotation of people who have been dead for well over a thousand years.

  • Discovery Network TV !

    Love this program

    Thank you for sharing it

    John

  • I finally realized who he reminds me of, in a weird way - Jim Varney.

  • He isn't running for anything! ...goddammit run for it. He' better than any one of those schmucks out there...

  • Ive done that job. For three months in Australia! So cool to hear someone talk about it on TED in a positive way. ^^

  • i can watch this anytime, this TED ruled

  • Thanks for sharing !

    Discovery Channel right ?

  • Wow, he's a great guy, plus he has a sexy voice and is kind of cute... We can definitly say that he's handsome. =)

  • mike rowe is really down to earth. this guy sleeps at 10pm regularly. can't be a better guy for that dirty jobs show.

  • The only person who I believe could poetically and accurately describe the respect and admiration I have for Mike Rowe with any justice is Mike Rowe.

  • Mike for president!!!

  • @pilotboy500 ...... or, JOHN WAYNE !!

  • @ YourFaceWillDie396:

    Grow a pair kid, and see me in 10 years when you've done a fragment of what Mike Rowe and I have done.

    Lightweight.........

  • Best TED talk in a long time

  • i agree with jockyhanes he is a very handsome guy

  • SPOILERS!

  • What a smart and down to Earth man.

  • Mike Rowe for President! Seriously, if he ran for it. It would be the best thing to ever happen to this country. Not only would we have somebody that understood normal everyday people better than any in politics, but we would have a President that everyone would finally trust.

  • @heabe360 Erm, haven't you already elected a few of those no-nonsene, beer-swilling cowboys? How did that go?

  • Why is it that only comedians and tv-personalities get reality. Mike Rowe, Bill Maher, George Carlin, Lewis Black and many others talk so much sense about society, living together as a spiecies, religion, politics, work and any other major topic. These guys understand the real world and how thing should be. Where does it go wrong? It seems to me that the people who are in control (politicians, bankers, religious leaders etc) are too paranoid and out of sync with reality to get anything done.

  • @renehenckens Yeah except Bill Maher is a poisonous, pathetic excuse for a human being who deserves absolutely nothing akin the the respect Rowe's fans maintain for him. Bill Maher is digusting.

  • @bcbarker I have a great deal of respect for Bill Maher AND Mike Rowe. Is the world going to end now?

  • @renehenckens I think it goes wrong because everyone learns the things necessary for their jobs, but few people learn about other people's views or what they have to learn. As much as I don't like some politicians, I don't think they're idiots all the time. I'm sure theres a lot of things I don't know that come under consideration.

  • @renehenckens No, it's just that for a politician, the most important thing is being re-elected, because that's their *career*. That means consulting with statisticians, campaign managers, PR people, and the other people in the party before they say or do anything. Politicians aren't elected based on keen insight, if they were, then our politicians would be Mike Rowe and Lewis Black. They're elected on effective marketing. Politicians rarely lead, more often they do politics.

  • @renehenckens Thumbs down for mentioning a bunch of semi-funny hacks but not mentioning the master of unsaid realities Bill Hicks.

  • @renehenckens Because they are the few who have the freedom to speak it.

  • You stole this from ForaTv.

  • Wow, he is a great orator. I suspected that a bit from the show, but it really shines here.

  • Great, great talk! Wow

  • I would vote for Mike Rowe for president in a heartbeat lol. He was born in america, so he could run.

  • @skoal22005 i would vote for him 2 he is so awesome

  • Wonder if he ever read Albert Schweitzer?

  • I am enlightened.

  • What I like the most about Mike Rowe, is how down-to-earth he is. I don't think anyone else could've been a better dirty jobs host than him. Loved this speech. I hope his message got through.

    This message is signed by a guy that has shoveled literally tons of literal crap in total over a few years.

  • @Uberubert99 i fell like both him and me had an epiphany listening to this speech....

  • I have a whole new respect for Mike Rowe after this. I always enjoyed him on Dirty Jobs but this shows how intelligent and talented he is. Congrats to Discovery for finding this talent.

  • Rowe is a great public speaker. Discovery channel has a knack for finding talent. Mike Rowe reminds me of Adam Savage from Mythbusters.

  • This gives me hope. Mike Rowe is an amazing man- it's very evident that he is well versed in many areas of life from literature to economics. He's down to earth, intelligent and not afraid of work. He's got a very traditional upbringing with old school ethics. Thank God there's still people out there like Mike.

    I wasn't around in a period where I could wear an "I like Ike" badge but ya know what? I'd be proud to wear an "I like Mike" badge any time!

  • Comment removed

  • mike rowe is a moe!

  • hahaha... funniest in a long time. Life is larger than fiction.

  • 31 people have clean jobs, but want dirty ones now...

  • Absolutely brilliant, and what I've been saying for 40 years...if you do not respect me AND MY WORK, you do not deserve it. Take your high-tech or executive positions...if you don't treat me with respect and treat me like an underling, I'll leave your faucets to drip, your doors to not close, your roof to leak.

    Most of the idiots I do work for do not deserve me or guys like Mike Rowe. I AM the guy that makes YOUR life work. I AM the man that lets you even EXIST.

    Disrespect me at your peril.

  • @Lumpyone Now that you've made this comment, I think people are going to respect you less than ever for being arrogant, pretentious, and obnoxiously smug.

  • he's a funny dude

  • This is an incredible video - Mike Rowe is seriously amazing! It's so true that the US has always moved away from goods-producing jobs towards service jobs, leading to a loss of appreciation for the kinds of work that make what we do everyday possible

  • Great talK~

  • this is a video that was actually worth my full 20 mins. Puts a whole new look on things, especially jobs, and how clean and dirty are not opposites. I watch Dirty Jobs whenever it's on, but my favorite that i can remember is changing the light-bulbs on the top of 3 story bridges suspended by a few pieces of metal over zipping cars on one side and water on the other. Need some guts to do that. :o

  • awesome - a bit like Crawford's message in Shop Class as Soulcraft

  • @Optimatorz Very much like Crawford's message! School boards, teachers, counselors, and parents should all see this. Well, maybe skip the first 5 minutes if they're squeamish, but definitely see and hear the last 7 minutes!

  • All that goodness and no teleprompter. Mike, you are awesome.

  • @SaberOtaku all good, i forgot what he said anyway

  • good that people like Mike Rowe exsist without dirty jobs the world wouldn´t be that "clean"

  • vote Mike Rowe

  • Mike Rowe is amazing!

  • hmm. 30 people must have accidentally pressed the dislike button...

  • oh my god

    i hadn't seen the sixth sense

    FUCK

    thanks man

  • smart man. smart man

  • I watched this twice. first time I loled at testicles on his chin. The second time I loled when he said "THIS IS NUTS" This is one of the Greatest TED Talks evar!

  • I want to create jobs around portable power generation. Thank you for this invigorating talk

  • Such an intelligent man. His words and ideas flow so beautifully. If he ran for president I know who I'd vote for.

    Also, if he wanted to marry me, I'd be down as fuck.

  • he's so down-to-earth!

  • Dirty Jobs should go to Afghanistan.

  • Wow! Vey well said. And he's right, The more we make things easier, the lazier we are ultimately. Without the jobs he mentioned everything else falls to the wayside.

  • now i'm curious. gotta look up this video. lol xD

  • wow, that was much much better than i would have imagined

  • MIKE ROWE FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • This is one of the best TED talks - ever. The best parts are AFTER the sheep story.

  • I want to work more! >_<

  • Craig, Co! I live near there haha....

  • My father was a logger for 30 years, and the one thing he told me about his job over and over was "Don't be a logger! Go to school and do what you really want!" so who am I going to believe? Someone who was ACTUALLY a manual laborer, whose family has been manual laborers for generations? Or some fucking actor?

  • @Hurion Dude ....i fix airplanes ...well i work in a shop on a base that fixes airplane parts mon to fri 730am to 330pm, i make 64K a year and i get a pension i rarly get dirty twice a week i get to leave at 10:30am for physical training and have to be back by 12:30pm. i leave early on fridays and you know what ..my job sucks! Im looking to do something else ASAP. I havent been doing my job for anywhere near 30 years and im already bored...its gonna happen to everyone. i bet your job sucks too

  • @Hurion

    the conclusion you can make from these two contradicting ideas is that you should be anything you want as long as you're your satisfied with your job.

  • @Hurion "who am I gonna believe"

    Have you ever tried it? If not, then how do you know? I'm not trying to insult you or anything, simply asking a question.

    It's not the job itself that makes a man/woman happy. It's the sense of fulfillment (work), and the ability to provide for his family that keeps a man moving. Especially if it's a job that not everyone can do (logger). It's takes a special breed for certain jobs. Either you have it, or you don't. If you DO, you're a happy guy doing it.

  • @Hurion I have to agree with you on this topic. I watched the video and came back to comment 4hours later cause it didn't quite smell right. Right on Hurion!

  • @dinogrower While you're right about the wealth distribution, I think Mike's point (which he makes in this video) is that there are benefits to doing manual labour. It takes a different mentality to do these "low class jobs" than it does to sit in an office sitting in an office produces no physical product. It is important to the economy to have a segment of the workforce making physical things, so the entire economy is not based in hypothetical products.

  • @dinogrower Well, aren't YOU the totally super cool elitist.

  • @dinogrower - It seems you completely missed his point about looking for opportunities to make the best use of your labor (i.e. time). The pig farmer and the guy who collects manure to make biodegradable pots are both examples of how someone can start with an idea (not a passion), take risks, and work his @ss off, until they make it a success.

  • I was surprised by this speech. I love Discovery Channel, Dirty Jobs, and Mike Rowe is one cool guy.

    I didn't realize Mike was so insightful. Fantastic.

  • Mike Rowe said more in that Ted talk than Barack Obama ever said in his campaign.

  • @l80sman104 nice false accusation. lol. his presidental speech was just as long as this video.

  • I didn't stumble on this.

  • I wish I could rate this 100 stars!

  • stumbled from inianapolis, Indiana

  • this guy is so handsome...

  • @jockeyhanes this guy is beautiful.

  • @jockeyhanes He kinda looks like Mark Levin from TMZ if you kinda think of it. 

  • stumbled from london uk

  • milwaukee, WI

  • kudos to you dude..

    "clean and dirty are not opposites of each other..they are just two sides of a coin.."

    verry very impressive..!!