The debate over evolution is pretty silly. On the one hand you have scientists saying that life on earth proceeds according to the laws of evolution. On the other you have religiosos maintaining that either God created humans full blown or else, the newest wrinkle, creation by design. My opinion is somewhere between the two. I certainly think that God is sophisticated enough to incorporate the principle of evolution into the universe as a mechanism for generating more complex life forms from less complex life forms, but did God decree that from this mechanism human beings would evolve? No, I don't think so. The decree is extraneous. It's probably inherent in the universe that more intelligent organisms will eventually replace less intelligent ones. After all, does anyone really think that, if the dinosaurs were alive today, it would be any problem for mankind to wipe them out? I don't think so. I don't think dinosaurs had the capability of developing high-powered weaponry, airplanes or nuclear bombs.
But I do think that there is more to evolution than simply the mechanism of random mutation followed by natural selection dictated by survival of the fittest. It is not only the environment that selects who is the fittest to survive. It is the organisms themselves. For instance, sexual selection determines, to some extent, which organisms will pass their genes on to the next generation. Over many generations one would expect that stronger and better looking and more intelligent members of a species would more successfully pass their genes on than their counterparts.
Among humans, one would expect that, after thousands and thousands of years had passed, providing the human race hadn't extinguished itself, there would be more good looking people around and fewer ugly people so an evolution of a sort is taking place which has nothing to do with random mutation and survival of the fittest mutants.
Another thing I believe is that modern humans did not necessarily evolve in single line fashion from hominids. There may have been several sub-species of hominids, each of which had evolved a different human-like trait, and were capable of interbreeding with each other. Some of the off-spring then may have incorporated 2 or more traits of modern humans, not by evolution but by genetic combination. Those individuals then might have inter-bred more successfully than other members of their sub-species who were deemed less desirable until modern humans gradually took shape. Genes can be passed on selectively according to the criteria of the individuals who are selective about their mates. Evolution can then take place in this manner which constitutes a very conscious decision by those involved instead of a very passive selection by the environment. In fact some of the individuals may not be as favored by the environment but are able to compensate due to their superior brains. For example, man is able to survive in very hostile environments due to the fact that he is able to devise compensatory mechanisms such as WARM CLOTHES!!
Therefore, I do think that other mechanisms than mutation and natural selection are at work. In fact so did Darwin and Lamarck who thought that skills developed by parents could be passed on to their offspring. Scientists today, however, don't believe that.
On the other hand, I don't think it was fate or destiny that produced human beings. Given similar circumstances on other planets, beings similar to human beings probably would have evolved, but I don't believe there is any divine ordinance that says that they would necessarily have to. They might have both similar and dissimilar attributes compared to humans. I do think that intelligent life would have similar characteristics. All would be curious about life itself and about the universe they live in. All would have discovered the same mathematics since mathematical laws, I believe, are universal, ubiquitous and are true whether or not the universe exists. I mean 2 plus 2 equals 4 regardless of what physical matter exists or doesn't exist. Scientists also believe that physical laws, such as the conservation of mass and energy, are constant throughout the universe
Therefore, I disagree with the creation by design people that God decreed that humans would evolve from lower life forms or that there is something unique about the design of a human being. What is true, I believe, is that in the universe there was the "potential" for an organism like a human to evolve. There is also the potential for many other human-like organisms to evolve as well.
