In the simplest case, the initial agent doesn't allow changes in its I/O construction. Any modified agent would be a special case of what the initial agent constructs in environment, acting through the initial I/O, using the initial definition of preference expressed in terms of that initial I/O. Since the initial agent is part of environment, its control over the environment allows, in particular, to deconstruct or change the initial agent, understood as a pattern in environment (in the model of sensory input/reaction to output, seen through preference).