I suppose that juries have convicted men for simply having the right conditions to commit the charged crime, but juries have also demanded more evidence, and even reassessed cases like this.
Who says efficiency is really the driving force? Does it have to be? It's true that nature is extravagant, but isn't it enough to appreciate a garden without also having to believe there fairies at the bottom of it?
Are natural laws the product of an intelligent force, or an effect themselves? If you have two apples, and I give you two more apples, you will then have a number of apples equal to the sum of 2 and 2 which we call 4 but could have been called anything. The names and observations might be laid down by an intelligent person, but the effect being observed, hardly so.
How is man's cruelty proof of God?
"Limited use design seems to be a feature of the past." I don't know what you mean by the last line or how it relates to the discussion, but Lao-Tze was talking about seeing other uses for things a long time ago.