Sure they did — partnerships and whitelists. Is that what you would prefer?
I believe AMP to be a sort of trojan horse that leads to a fragmented internet. A way for Google to have some degree of a walled web garden. So yes...I'd prefer almost anything else. If you're signing a contract to be part of it, at least you know what is happening, and can read the terms.
Yes. Since I automatically ignore anything in the carousel anyway, I'd much prefer that AMP be nonexistent regardless of what that means for the carousel.
but the carousel didn't preload content before amp
It also didn't hijack the page header, back button, and left/right swipe actions on other people's pages.