Evolution: Thoughts from watching Heroes

heh watched a few episodes of heroes and have some thoughts. Heroes is a US TV serial (episode 16 now I think) that contains human who 'evolved' to have super powers and how this group of pple got together to prevent some nuclear disaster. Quite interesting show actually. It also hinges on the theory that evolution takes a leap every now and then...

Evolution. Charles Darwin has his theory of natural selection that seems to form the basis of how different species of creatures come to be. Of course, there are also others that propose Intelligent Design or Creationalism. Makes me wonder who is right exactly... somehow Darwinism makes me feel like a lottery ticket... where I happened to have my 'ticket' drawn at birth, and that sort of decides if my genes wld be passed along in future. My 'ticket' (i.e. genes lah) would determine how intelligent, hardworking, observant...etc etc I am, which in turn determines if I wld be successful in life...pro-create and passed on the 'ticket' to the next generation.

Mix Darwinism with other stuff like say, horoscopes... and voila... fate of all creatures is sealed at time of birth...so strange...

Thought there were another school of thought by a Russian guy (can't remember his name now) that suggests a variant theory... that genes are well, fixed at birth but not permanent... our 'evolution' takes place at the same time as we live and play. So... characteristics that are deemed desirable, could be enhanced as the creatures live their life. That gives back some independent ability of the individual creature to ensure his/her survivability.

Oh well... so the basic message is still 'a lottery ticket at birth' but with some ability to influence the numbers somewhat along the line. Hmm...