There Is No Reward Function for Meaning

- The article argues that "meaning" in life cannot be captured by a reward function (a mathematical objective used in AI training), contrasting with how reinforcement learning systems optimize for clear goals. - Aaron Ang is a writer and technologist who explores intersections of philosophy, AI, and human purpose. - This matters because as AI systems become more capable, there's growing pressure to define human values in computational terms — but the author insists meaning is fundamentally irreducible to optimization.