So the ant in the universe where shoes have just been invented and people stop hesitating to step on them?

The scale between ant and human is large, but probably still smaller than the ratio power-wise between the civilizations with and without exotic matter. Might as well just call one gods and the other mortals.

That's right. The engineers have eternity to achieve outcomes satisfying to all parties. And if they choose not to, well, that's an all-time consequence, not a long-term one.