[Last Visible Dog]

Nobody is directing any selection except the critters competing to survive. If you're not *pretending* to be dumb here, you should quit now.

No. You are the one claiming nature does the selecting. You need to modify your view. Nature DOES NOT DIRECT ANYTHING - and I believe that is your current claim. (remember your first claim: random and directed are not opposites)

...and lose the insults.

In case you want to start playing games - here are your words:

At any given time, in some specific population, it[nature] is selecting stronger, or smarter....

Nature is not selecting anything - the selection is observed in the past tense.

[VadeRetro]

There is no conscious, purposeful selection. For all that, the outcome is not random. The trend is toward increasing adaptation to current conditions. That's it.

No anthropic Nature, no big guy with a fuzzy beard. Some are a little better at finding a way to make it. They live and pass on their genes.

If you can misunderstand that, you're trying too hard. Can the dumb-playing.