Tucker Carlson says there is ‘no evidence’ for Darwin’s theory of evolution β and even his friend and boss Elon Musk says he disagrees
Tucker Carlson has been mocked by experts after suggesting Darwin’s theory of evolution has been debunked.
The broadcaster made the comments on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he also claimed UFOs are controlled by “spiritual entities” who have a hidden headquarters on Earth.
βThere is no evidence for evolution,β Carlson said.
‘In fact, I think we have given up on the theory of evolution as formulated by Darwin. It’s actually not true.’
Rogan pressed the issue and asked the broadcaster to explain his views, to which he claimed that “there is no evidence that humans evolved seamlessly from a single-celled amoeba.”
Tucker Carlson argued that the theory of evolution has fallen out of favor. Scientists and even many Christians disagree.
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has been refined over time by modern scientists, but the central idea remains the same: species change over time to adapt to their conditions.
The conversation about evolution started with Rogan offhandedly saying, βIf evolution is real,β before Carlson interrupted to ask, βIs it real?β
βI don’t know,β Rogan replied, starting the discussion. ‘But it is visible. You can measure it in certain animals.’
During his famous trip to the Galapagos Islands in the 1830s, Darwin measured the evolution of certain animals. He discovered that mockingbirds varied from island to island.
Likewise, the finches he collected on different islands during the trip were so different from each other that they were clearly different species.
They probably started out as the same bird species, Darwin concluded, but something changed when they migrated to new environments in the Galapagos.
As they adapted to their new environment, each new species developed physical characteristics suited to its survival.
The finches had different beaks depending on their habits: insectivores had narrow beaks for scratching in crevices, while nut eaters had thick beaks for cracking shells.
Scientists still agree that Darwin was right on this point.
βYou can measure adaptation, but there’s no evidence that evolution β in fact, I think we’ve kind of given up on the idea of ββevolution,β Carlson said. ‘The theory of evolution as formulated by Darwin is actually not true, is it?’
‘How?’ Rogan asked.
βWell, in the most basic sense, the idea that all life came from a single-celled organism and that over time there would be a fossil record of it, and that’s not the case,β Carlson responded.
To counter this point, Rogan noted that there is evidence in the fossil record of transitional species that have adapted to their environment.
A good example of this is Archeopteryx, a bird-like dinosaur that provided some of the earliest evidence for transitional species between groups known to science – in this case between dinosaurs and modern birds.
The archeopteryx has a long tail and small teeth, like a dinosaur, but flight feathers and wings like those of a bird.
Charles Darwin’s finches have become a famous example of evolution. They probably started out as the same bird, but as they adapted to their new environment, each new species developed physical characteristics suited to its survival.
Transitional species such as archeopteryx provide strong evidence to support the theory of evolution: this bird-like dinosaur had teeth and a tail like a dinosaur, but flight feathers and wings like a bird. Tucker Carlson dismissed transitional species as evidence of βadaptationβ and not evolution β a false distinction.
It also possessed a bone called the furcula, a fused collarbone.
Only birds and dinosaurs had this feature, strongly suggesting that the extinct species was related to both.
However, Carlson rejected examples of “adaptation,” saying they do not prove that humans evolved from single-celled organisms.
‘There is no evidence at all β none, zero β that humans evolved seamlessly from a single-celled amoeba. No that’s not true. There is no chain of that in the fossil record at all,β Carlson argued.
βAnd that’s why you don’t really hear people; you hear them refer to evolution because the theory of adaptation is clearly and distinctly true. But Darwin’s theory is completely unfounded – which is why, almost 200 years later, it is still a theory.’
Rogan didn’t press Carlson on the matter, other than to ask what his theories are.
βGod clearly created humans and animals,β Carlson replied. He has not made any public statements about his faith, but Carlson tends to support Christian ideas.
In this case he quoted the Bible book of Genesis, in which God created humans and animals.
The archaeopteryx’s fused collarbone provided strong evidence for its shared relationship with dinosaurs and modern birds
Tucker Carlson argued that humans were created, that we did not evolve from lower life forms such as single-celled amoebae.
The way Carlson formulates the question leaves no room for discussion.
But his simple answer actually belies how varied Christians’ views are when it comes to evolution.
According to a Pew Research Poll 2019 of Americans, between 32 and 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants said they believed humans have evolved over time, rather than always existing in their current form.
Among Catholic respondents, the numbers were even higher, with between 71 and 87 percent agreeing that humans have evolved over time.
Famous biologist EO Wilson has pointed out that fringe opponents of evolution quote Darwin to make it sound as if evolution is an ideology traceable to just one man, rather than a well-supported theory.
“It’s a rhetorical device to make evolution seem like some kind of faith, like ‘Maoism,'” he said. “Scientists don’t call it ‘Darwinism.'”
According to a 2019 Pew research poll, many Christians in the US do believe in evolution. However, people’s reactions depend on the way the question is asked.
And in reality, Darwin did not come up with the theory of evolution. Instead, he refined the ideas of scientists who came before him to develop his idea of ββ”survival of the fittest.”
Carlson is not the first person to attribute the theory of evolution solely to Darwin as a way of implying that it is on par with his own ideas about human origins.
The broadcaster was quickly reprimanded for its comments by scientists, who rightly pointed out that Carlson misrepresented what a scientific theory is, and that his comments ignored the mountains of evidence supporting the theory of evolution.
The commentator’s critics even included some of his frequent boosters, such as billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Scientists have refined their explanations since Charles Darwin proposed the theory in the 1800s, but the core idea is the same, and evolution remains the generally accepted scientific explanation for how living things came to be the way they are.
“Tucker Carlson fails to understand that ‘theory’ in everyday speech refers to a hunch or speculation, but in science it refers to a comprehensive explanation of nature,” wrote clinical psychologist Jonathan Stea about X.
‘Many scientific theories are so well established that no new evidence is likely to change them. For example: evolution,β he said.
Musk responded to several such posts on X criticizing Carlson and expressing his agreement with them.
βI don’t agree with his views here, but he makes good points sometimes,β he says wrote.
No fossils have been found that show every stage in the evolutionary chain, but many experts say this is because it is very difficult to trace back microbial life.
But DNA and RNA are so abundant in living things on Earth, another sign that we all evolved from one thing.