“Intelligence,” OUT OF NOTHINGNESS!

[bennyboy]

Maybe, but you will get a variety of adaptations to a new environment. And given two similar environments which are isolated from each other, you will very possibly get different adaptations (and species). Just because new phenotypes are better adapted doesn't mean they aren't also random.

Imagine that a group of early humans or prehumans was killed by an unfortunate event, rather than making a lucky escape. Totally random event, massive effect on evolution.

Mutation is not the only source of variation, there is also relative frequency of alleles in the population.

The environment 'selects' what survives and reproduces. The variants that make it through that sieve determine adaptation. And that is not random.

It is random, because that sieve is not static. It involves too many unpredictable variables: weather, for example, or giant rocks falling from the sky, or the whims of powerful individuals. None of these things are predictable, and they all serve to destabilize environmental pressures.