The Beatles‘ John Lennon took well-known contrarian opinions on politics and religion, particularly Christianity. He also took a contrarian opinion on human evolution. He had plenty to say about why he didn’t believe that humanity evolved from monkeys. John’s views are at odds with modern science.
The Beatles’ John Lennon felt evolution could have gone differently
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The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John brought up the concept of human evolution from apes. “That’s another piece of garbage,” he opined. “What the hell’s it based on? We couldn’t’ve come from anything — fish, maybe, but not monkeys. I don’t believe in the evolution of fish to monkeys to men. Why aren’t monkeys changing into men now?”
“It’s absolutely irrational garbage, as mad as the ones who believe the world was made only four thousand years ago, the fundamentalists,” he said, appearing to reference biblical literalists. “That and the monkey thing are both as insane as the other.”
John admitted that he didn’t have any evidence for his anti-Darwinian worldview. “I’ve nothing to base it on; it’s only a gut feeling,” he said. “They always draw that progression — these apes standing up suddenly. The early men are always drawn like apes, right? Because that fits in the theory we have been living with since Darwin.”
The Beatles’ John Lennon didn’t have any evidence for his claims
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The “Imagine” singer didn’t have an alternative to Darwinism. “I’ve got no basis for it and no theory to offer, I just don’t buy it,” he said. “Something other than that. Something simpler. I don’t buy anything other than ‘It always was and ever shall be.’”
John viewed the theory of evolution as another false idol to be smashed down. He said that many ideas that were presented to him as fact when he was a child were later disproven by the experts who thought them up. He wasn’t sure if a belief in evolution was harmful, however, he felt that Darwinism was being shoved “down everybody’s throat.” The “Power to the People” singer felt that Darwinism was taught in universities simply because it gave old professors something to occupy their time.
A biologist explained why some people don’t want to accept evolution
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Richard Dawkins is one of the most famous evolutionary biologists alive. He’s also known for criticizing religion in his book The God Delusion. In that book, he shares some of the sentiments John expressed in his songs “Imagine” and “God.”
During a 2014 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he said that the scientific community should stop referring to evolution as a “theory” because that confuses people. It should simply be called a “fact.” In scientific nomenclature, a “theory” is a way to explain the natural world that can be tested using the scientific method. Scientists use the term “theory” in a way that is different from the general population.
Dawkins said people don’t like the idea that humans are related to money because monkeys are perceived as “lesser” creatures. He noted that they were considered comical in the Victorian era. Perhaps John’s attitude toward monkeys was influenced by lingering Victorian sentiments.
John was a contrarian, and that extended to his rejection of science.
