[psadri]

I was describing the most probable path, not the only path.

I do think that developing more sophisticated tools under water is difficult. Once you have plants on land, taller “trees” are very probable, because they are competing for light. Once you have trees, it’s likely that animals will climb then for safety or food. Once they climb, they will likely develop better gripping, etc…

I guess another way to look at this is that life on Earth is not special (although it is still an insanely amazing occurrence).