God knows the ending...the beginning...the reason. Not us.
"...the Earth, itself triumphant, is left to evolve on its own."
HAH! I don't think so...
So God enters the equation.
Don't get me wrong, I think God is way kewl! BUT: until you can quantify and identify God, it is not science - it is not "fact found out." Science will probably never apply the God factor in our lifetimes. If God can be measured by man and assigned a mathematical constant, then God will cease to be God.