"the problem of evil" is a well-known philosophical / theological argument.

In short, the normal explanation is "because you have free will". This is to say that God does not create evil, rather man creates it of his own free will.

There are some gaps with that argument (ie. why would an 8 yr old get cancer, there is no free will there). However this presumes that death itself is "evil", which could be argued against.

What good is existence if you don't get to experience it?

I personally don't believe it would be benevolent at all to live in a perfectly manicured existence.

The human experience is one of polarities. We came here to experience beauty and ugly. We can't observe one with out the other. GOD is indifferent. There is no judge. God is within all of us. We may create our our own heaven or hell on earth regardless of perceived evil.

The Universe evolves as a random walk process. There is no God that can correct it, but all of us are witnesses and the driving force of that evolution.

Mat 4:8-9 KJV Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

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simple way to look at it: people are programmable receivers/transmitters (fundamentally, the dna, molecules, and subatomic particles are the receivers/transmitters).

garbage in - more garbage out. goodness in - more goodness out.

there are the programmers, and the free will obviously exists also. one is not obliged to follow the program and can choose his own adventure.

Proving that some alien creature created us is hard enough, let alone one that is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful

Since I can remember and as far as I know God in the beginning when he created the world there is no evil, evil was introduced by the devil through sin when the world or man sinned evil entered the world and with that sin entered and with that death. God has created humanity to be happy but the devil has created evil to be destroyed so that they disobey him. God sometimes allows situations so that human beings grow in every way but that does not mean that he does not feel the suffering of his children and does not give them the comfort that is necessary to face those situations.

If God is benevolent, why bother about him? If God is evil, why bother about him?

But if God is both benevolent and evil, isn't him very very similar to how human beings are? And thus, why aren't we bothering to dam the flood of evil inside our hearts instead of theorizing evil as an external force?

We hold a spectrum of goodness in our hearts that ranges from pure evil to pure love. And anything in between. So evil exists because human beings exist.

Could argue that God's benevolence is working toward a higher purpose, and that the evil and suffering we are subjected to is necessary in order to teach us lessons or strengthen us. Maybe some individuals experience net suffering, but as a result the effect on the entire species is net positive?

For clarity, I'm not religious in the slightest.

Simple. This world is not heaven. This world exists for our souls to grow. Growth is impossible in a realm without evil.