This was very well done. Easy to follow and to the point. Thank you.

Human: a primate that builds a model of its environment inside its brain, and upon physical maturity, moves a model of its self inside that model, avoiding reality at all costs.

Evil: an action taken based on an unquestioned belief.

I 'believe' that the basis of everything in the universe is this: a thing must be net useful (more useful than consumptive) to its own future or it will cease to exist.

A proton can exist as long as it is useful (stable) to its future self to do so and maintain isolation from needs (if it doesn't have to consume anything to exist once it exists, it can last forever).

What would affect the existence of a proton at a quantum level? Gravity, charge, acceleration, time? Are these the 'problem' to solve, rather than "How long does a proton last?"

We smash protons all the time. Once you bite into a raspberry-filled milk chocolate, it's just goo. Physics keeps trying to reconstruct a cow, a cacao and a brain from the goo of the universe. It's apparently nice work if you can get it. ;)