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I was curious about how the universe came about, after reading the first few chapters of Dennett’s book, thus I did a bit of research on my own.  I came across, Martin Rees’s “Just Six Numbers,” where he explains that for life of any shape or form to have existed in any corner of our universe, is dictated by six parameters, such as the strength of gravity, and the strong nuclear force that holds the protons and neutrons together.  In his book he theorizes the different possibility that may result from a deviation from any of these parameters.  For example: one of the six numbers Rees labels as epsilon reflects the strength of the strong nuclear force, which glues together the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.  The bigger the value of epsilon, the stronger the glue.  Measurement shows that epsilon = 0.007, which is incredibly fortunate because if it were much different then the consequences would have been catastrophic.  If epsilon equals 0.006, the nuclear glue would have been slightly weaker, and it would have been impossible to fuse hydrogen into deuterium.  This is the first step on the road to forming helium and all the heavier elements.  If epsilon= 0.006, than the entire universe would be filled with nothing but hydrogen, so there would be no chance of any life. (Singh, Simon. Big Bang. Harper Perennial. 2005). 

Just a small change in any parameters would mean the universe would not be what it is today; it might not have been possible for living organisms to exist.  Although I believe evolution is a random process, but when you trace things back beyond the beginning periods of evolution, it appears to me that there was a structural recipe that was not random in creating the universe.