Earth has existed for about 1/3rd of the time that the universe has.
Some stars smaller than ours are expected to fuse hydrogen for ten
trillion years, about 700x the current age of the universe. That puts us
in the top ~tenth of the top 'one percent' in terms of earliness,
assuming that energy must be taken from a star (as it always has been).
But you don't need stars.
it's possible, in idea, to get energy from a black hole's gravity.
The biggest black holes are expected to be around for the next
GOOGOL years. Some form of life may be able to
sustain
itself this way.
Something small and insignificant in the beginning, like an atom,
with its random movement and gravity, had a huge effect on
today's universe.
In the same way, you matter perhaps more than you give yourself
credit for.
