Interesting point. However, I&#x27;d like to argue that there is a fine line between the conventional definition of a utility function and the ability of an organism to survive in an environment. The latter is truly open-ended, and not really externally imposed, i.e. different animals&#x2F;people fare throughout life &quot;optimising&quot; completely different functions (closure?). A quote from a Kozma paper comes to mind: &quot;Intelligence is characterized by the flexible and creative pursuit of <i>endogenously defined</i> goals&quot;. I believe this quite well summarises  the open-ended nature of the task at hand. As I understand it, indeed, goals, rewards, risks, hazards, they are all in the game and shape the decision-making of the agent, it&#x27;s &quot;policy&quot;. But the way they are formalized for each individual and situation, well, is probably subject to constant redefinition itself.