“You can imagine a situation in which life arises and has some effects on a planet, but remains a relatively minor part of the scene,” he says. “But oxygenic photosynthesis made life into a major player on Earth. It didn’t just change the living world, it changed the mineral composition and geological processes of the Earth.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/28/peter-godfrey-smith-other-minds-living-on-earth?CMP=share_btn_url