We know the struggle for survival favors organisms which adapt successfully, and adaptation appears to be a result of competition--stress.

Random variations will operate on one characteristic, making it approach some ideal because selection will prune out the bad variants. But what if you need two characteristics, like white fur AND fatty deposits under the skin? How much longer will that take? What about three, what about a thousand? A million? How will the simultaneous development of all these independent characteristics be coordinated? How will they be managed and optimized to work together? How are they integrated so the life form evolves rather than get tangled up in its own infinite contradictory possibilities?

I think intelligence is involved. Not intelligence from a supreme being, but an intelligence which somehow arises spontaneously in the complexity of biochemistry. I think DNA computes. It calculates. It processes data and rigs the odds in its favor. I believe DNA (and its associated accessory compounds) is capable of thought. Not thought in the way we think of it, but thought nonetheless. It analyzes data, makes decisions, learns from its mistakes, follows up on promising ideas. Its alive. And it is busy making and perfecting even better thinking machines to help ensure its own survival and propagation.