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purposive and by chance: two descriptions for the same event

The discussion below is a response to S J Gould's comparison of evolution with a drunk man walking. The latter eventually walks in the gutter/groove in the road, not because he was aiming for it, but because it serves as a kind of guide, etc. No teleology, just coincidence and good fit. Something similar happens with attaining higher and higher levels of complexity. Once each level fits, we stick with it. Organisms don't aim to become more complex. It just happens.

My reply is an analogy

Suppose I leave a raccoon trap outside my house and a week later it catches a raccoon. It would be correct to say that the trap caught a raccoon on purpose. But if we consider the fact that many different raccoons were in the vicinity of the trap, some of them came very near to it, a few touched it, but only one took the bait, we can say that it was by chance that I caught this raccoon at this time.

We can say the same about planting an IED on the road.

In both cases, the very same event can be called a chance event when described in one way and the attainment of a goal when described in another way.
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