A possible implementation of your idea would be an agent that, at every juncture, evaluates the expected consequences of the actions it could take. If there is a unique action that will lead to the agent’s goals being satisfied with subjective probability above the threshold p, then the agent takes that action. If there are multiple such actions, the agent chooses one randomly, perhaps with preference given to the action “do nothing” or “self-destruct”. If there are no such actions, then the agent takes an action that maximizes the subjective probability of its goals being satisfied.
A problem with this is that if the agent’s subjective probability of achieving its goals is ever below the threshold, then the agent will have reason to modify itself to become an optimizer.
A possible implementation of your idea would be an agent that, at every juncture, evaluates the expected consequences of the actions it could take. If there is a unique action that will lead to the agent’s goals being satisfied with subjective probability above the threshold p, then the agent takes that action. If there are multiple such actions, the agent chooses one randomly, perhaps with preference given to the action “do nothing” or “self-destruct”. If there are no such actions, then the agent takes an action that maximizes the subjective probability of its goals being satisfied.
A problem with this is that if the agent’s subjective probability of achieving its goals is ever below the threshold, then the agent will have reason to modify itself to become an optimizer.