(2) seems like the key one to me. We seem to actually be quite "lucky" (in the short term) that it took a epochal hot minute for something to evolve to consume

(2) seems like the key one to me. We seem to actually be quite "lucky" (in the short term) that it took a epochal hot minute for something to evolve to consume dead life so it could just accumulate to such a degree that we now burn like, trillions of ancient dead microorganisms to drive around the block.