Well, the difference 'twixt Stephen Jay et moi (aside from some vast-yet-unmeasurable intelligence-gaps of unmentionable varieties) is that
--while my personal 'decision' re. crap-shoot über alles … may even have pre-dated his Opus of the 89th Year of the *Worst Century for Homo-saps
--he did the grunt work to sustain his insight.
Invented such descriptives as exaptations! and built from his intimate delvings into Pikaia gracilens [!]
And formed extrapolations which only a paleontologist Could grok-to-fulness: he filled-in something akin to causality-of-[certain]-'trends?' in evolution (say.)

So.. and in keeping with his very-same-theme: mine was merely a 'Lucky' guesstimate (nor am I worthy even to shine his custom-lasted pukka British Oxford footwear.)
But it's nice, occasionally to have arrived at a conclusion shared by such worthies as--by dint of scholarship, unfettered imagination and massive toil
--took a lot of my guessing out of the Luck, eh?

Thanks for the Ref! (And how wonderful that SJG's opus had nothing whatsoever to do with that Frank Capra orgy of maudlin sentimentality--which shares only a phrase of his title.

My belief re. the er, programming of the next Prez campaign, due in a mere couple years.. is that the WInner ought to begin with the Slogan,
It's ALL a Crap Shoot and I am here to make Damn Certain that we do not come up with Snake Eyes.



Ed: add: * thus far.. that is.