Adaptive Overcommitment Theory: Survival Optimization as an Exploit-Sensitive State

Adaptive Overcommitment Theory (AOT) proposes that repeated survival optimization may progressively narrow adaptive flexibility, generating exploit-sensitive states within highly adapted systems. This paper introduces a multi-heuristic dynamical framework describing how chronic stress reinforcement can produce adaptive funneling and phase-dependent vulnerability formation. A translational application to Enterococcus faecalis biofilm persistence is explored through a conceptual “panic + decoy” therapeutic architecture involving stress-guided adaptive channeling and targeted exploit intervention. The framework is discussed in relation to persistence biology, synthetic lethality, cancer adaptation, neurodegeneration, and optimization brittleness in artificial systems.