Actually evolution is not change in order to adapt. It is simply change.
If there are variants that have statistically more offspring than other variants, then their alleles will become more common in the population.
If the available variants don't include better adaptations, extinction is always a possibility. But the variants don't know where they are headed.
Yup, I agree. Even the observers don't know where the observed specie is headed, and there is no "goal".