The dark side of this is that evolution works by culling the unfit to survive. Might want to choose another term (or maybe that's exactly what you intended)
No it doesn't. Evolution occurs due to change in allele frequency in a population over time. Relative death rate of certain organisms in a given environment is certainly a mechanism for this change in frequency, but it is not necessary for evolution to occur.
[edit] Rather, not the core drivers but the core direction-setters.