This leads us to a non-intuitive but fundamental conclusion that all adaptive systems simultaneously are:
• well-adapted to some aspects of its environment (e.g., Law of Fluency—well-adapted cognitive work occurs with a facility that belies the difficulty of the demands resolved and the dilemmas balanced),
• under-adapted in that the system has some degree of drive to learn and improve its fitness relative to variation in its environment. This is related in both intrinsic properties of that agent or system and to
the external pressures the system faces from stakeholders.
• maladapted or brittle in the face of events and changes that challenge its normal function.
Research Gate p.17 