In a "human society" adaptation means openness of knowledge. "Popper thought that a primary threat to the Open Society, perhaps even the greatest threat, derived from faulty epistemology. In particular, Popper believed that closed societies relied upon people’s failure to embrace an attitude he called “critical rationalism”. In a critical rationalist mindset, people interrogate their beliefs and the reasons why they hold them, always challenging their beliefs and asking if they have good reasons for what they believe."
The American ultra neocons call dangerous "woke" those social actors who try to adapt to an ever changing environment, this includes of course climate change. They desperately want to return to the pre-confederation times, to rebuilt Tamara which has "gone with the wind" that is go back to the hierarchical structure of the times when selection of the fittest applied: wealth brought by white male supremacy and slavery.
An opportunist scammer such as Donald Trump has understood their fear and promised them to bring turn around the "wind" appealing also to all those in the world who are terrified by the great replacement.
There is an irony in this: they think social Darwinism is the adaptive engine of the return of the old days . The Silicon Valley boys are disciples of Ayn Rand , the goddess of the market, the preacher of rational social Darwinism made super efficient thanks to AI. "Give us the data, they say and we will give you a perfect social order"
Being rather ignorant and poorly read, they have not read and understood Darwin. For Darwin, "survival of the fittest" (a phrase borrowed from Herbert Spencer) means natural selection, where organisms best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on advantageous traits, leading to species evolving to fit their surroundings better over time, essentially "survival of the form that leaves the most copies of itself". It's not about being the strongest, but about having the best combination of heritable traits (like camouflage, speed, or disease resistance) that ensure reproductive success in a specific environment. "
When it comes to complex human society, adaptation takes an other complex dimension since the human society are by definition "political". But do not rush to the restrictive definitions the neocons love. For Aristotle, being a "political animal" (zoon politikon) means humans are naturally social beings who find their purpose and fulfillment within a polis (city-state), unlike gods or beasts, because we possess speech and reason to deliberate on justice and the common good, making community life essential for a fully realized, virtuous life".