You are right. I suppose a more complex system might be a better example where there are several competing forces. "X wants to go to state A, but Y wants X to g

You are right. I suppose a more complex system might be a better example where there are several competing forces. "X wants to go to state A, but Y wants X to go to state B" with some relative probabilities of each. Then again, I just don't buy the argument that our big problem here is that the language here is somehow misleading the general public, and that's really my main point. If we accept that we can't say things like these, we then should also stop using terms like "greedy algorithm" because they sound so sinister.