You: Except that no "choice" was involved, right? Only completely random chance, since no intelligence was involved.
LIke I said, as soon as there are imperfectly reproducing replicators and limited resources, evolution happens. "Choice" only applies to sentients; evolution applies to all systems of imperfect replicators.
Thnk about it. How could evolution fail to happen? Some combinations of existing genes and mutations will produce more offspring than others; hence, these combinations and mutations will be present in a higher percentage in the next generation; of these, some combinations, ... Repeat.
If the environment is completely static, eventually some sort of steady state (dispersal around a mean) will result; if the environment is gradually changing, the mean will change in response. Since the environment includes other living things that are going through the same process at their own rates, the combinations are unlimited and never repeat.
Yeah, but if it's all random, how would a complex organ like an eye or an ear "evolve?" Or lungs? Or...self-consciousness?