There are other particles that move at the speed of light (gluons, gravitons), so in that sense, light is not special. Classical mechanics can be formulated in

There are other particles that move at the speed of light (gluons, gravitons), so in that sense, light is not special. Classical mechanics can be formulated in Lagrangian form such that the path that a particle takes is the path of least action (for light, action is proportional to time). Don't put too much weight on light having agency because this description of how particles move is mathematically equivalent to a system of differential equations, in which the infinitesimally future position of a particle is determined by local information. Classical mechanics is just an approximation of quantum mechanics anyway. Quantum mechanics clarifies why particles move according to the principle of least action: the paths close to the path of least action have large probability amplitudes.