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Where I think evolution overreaches in in the presumption that we have a good handle on the mechanism for it. Maybe it's random, but I don't see how that's confirmed in the time frames we've been observing living species scientifically.

I think we use the word random too often. At the fundamental level (where it really matters) the chemistry is not random. Chemical bonds and long chain polymers follow a very distinct set of "rules". But remember, biochem is not my formal educational background. So if I have posted in error, I hope I will be corrected.

I think we use the word random too often. At the fundamental level (where it really matters) the chemistry is not random.

Nor is the deeper physics underlying the chemistry.
My own big issue on these threads is the carelessness with which the term "random" is tossed around.

Excellent point! The "randomness" is really a description of a population's characteristics, like height, weight or eye color. The reactions within the sex cells at the molecular level aren't random and neither is the fertilization when the sex cells join. The actions of these molecules is very specific. The mechanisms for this are just not well understood. If the mechanisms were understood, there'd be an HIV vaccine.

To Sabertooth's point about reshuffling genes, humans contain genes for gills and probably some other stuff (wings would be cool, but I don't think we could fly). Look at human embryonic developmental characteristics. But genes are added and destroyed. There are simple viral vectors for some activity and bacteria can swap DNA readily. There are also situations where DNA can become truncated. Again the processes are not well understood.

Technology has reached the point where these mechanisms can be described over the next several hundred years or less. There's a lot of data, but the procedures are becoming automated and computer power and memory are no longer a constraint. This is a key point in history where this technology can benefit us in the hands of a free people or create God knows what suffering in the hands of people like x42. As a Christian, I'm saying we're better off having this technology in the hands of people who have moral values and who value life.