It also looks to me like the post isn't careful enough in distinguishing fitness-maximizing vs. adaptation-executing.

Now that I know what you mean by adaptation-executing, I can tell you that it isn't relevant. Here are the concepts I'm using:

• Exploitation vs. exploration

• Kin selection

These are concepts used for goal optimization and fitness maximization. Adaptation execution becomes relevant only after evolution has operated, in some particular historical context.