The Importance of Randomness and Opportunity in Evolution

If dinosaurs hadn't died off, maybe there would not have been evolutionary pressure for any one species to become as intelligent as humans. Maybe it would have been too dangerous a life for primates to have been able to come to power. It's just so hard to know. How does a species change from generation to generation? It's from changes in the genetic code which come from transcription errors or cosmic rays. There's no design here. It's like throwing a bunch of dice to see what your kids are going to be like.