Dave,
accepting random interactions and events as driving mechanisms does not render the ToE "religious" in any sense.
try a thought game:
Given -
your ancestors 10 reproductive cycles ago all lived
my ancestors 10 reproductive cycles all lived
Question - exactly how many random interactions and events transpired between then and now which directly affected the present outcome of both you and I posting responses on this very thread?
Tentative prediction/answer - A truly staggering, mind-bogglingly HUGE number of random interactions and events, including specific reproductive events, including but not limited to: nominally 2046 extremely specific and statistically improbable gamete fusion events; 4092 chance-influenced lives; the specific history of nations, cultures, and technology; my knowing a certain FReeper in 1984-1988; Jim Robinson founding FR (which was itself predicated on a whole slew of other random interactions and events within the same timeframe); etc.... almost literally ad infinitum
and, yet, out of all these random interactions, something highly specific has arisen: we *are* both here, posting on this very thread, not "in spite of" but in a very real sense *because of* an enormous web of random interactions and events.
see?
please see #53
also, as a personal favor to me, please cut Dave some slack - he doesn't strike me as one of the obnoxious ones who are the true soul of gnat-like irritation, and I see no profit in being harsh with him over this.
just MVHO, of course.
Nice example.
Isn't that incredible!!! Yet you stated it very well. Using the random interactions, there is definitely a probability attached to your example and it is not zero.