lamarck all over again

so my one very large complaint about spore is this; back in the bronze age when we were all taking introductory bio and learning about xylem and frangipanni and doing bark rubbings, it was drilled into our heads (not in these exact words) that evolution is not teleological, that blind selection accounts for genetic variation and environmental pressures are what change allelic frequency, i.e. there is no watchmaker, evolution does not "improve" species, etc. now, this may be self-evident for most of us, but i warrant that most of the people you pass on the street will have at best a foggy idea of this concept, and at worse completely misguided lamarckian (or worse) notions. this is bad. what is worse is that spore, a game that purports to be true to principles of evolutionary biology, inadvertently (and completely necessarily) perpetuates these misconceptions by implying that there is a watchmaker (you), and that evolution is goal-driven (to progress to the next stage). i think i'm just going to spend all my time in space so i don't have to think about this horror.

(speaking of space, you can read about gliese 581 for your nerd info of the day).