Anagenetic

 

The YouTube content-creator Erika was triggered by some creationist GOP candidate in Georgia (the US state) to make this video, in which she adresses three common misconceptions about evolution. At least from a Darwinist viewpoint! Thus, teleology is one of the three. Another is "anagenetic evolution", which can certainly be combined with teleology. The third is the idea that we are descended from chimps or chimp-like creatures. 

Personally, I suspect that there is some kind of "soft" teleology in the universe, with Order, Life and Intelligence trying to "come through", but not hard teleology as in "Modern Western Man" (and he really is a guy!) being the inevitable end-point of a 15 billion year-long cosmic process. Everything else being side-branches, presumably.

Or as the Buddhists would put it: rebirth as a human is extremely rare. And only humans can become enlightened. Except in Georgia?

I know, I know, many of these reflections are completely off topic...