As family functions enter the process of intelligence, will machines change the future family structure?

Preface

If intelligence is regarded as a technological revolution in traditional food, clothing, housing and transportation, then the speed of this revolution can be said to be unprecedented, especially in the macro context of the country's vigorous promotion of Internet +. It is no exaggeration to say that all commodities in sight can have "intelligent" replicas, but these intelligent products are mixed, good and bad. To some extent, this is related to the lack of a clear definition of the term "intelligence".

From the perspective of human development, the success of technological change is closely related to whether it can improve people's daily work efficiency. Revolutionary products will eventually be integrated into people's daily lives in a "no sense of disobedience" state. Most people will not evaluate the quality of a product from a technical perspective, that is, smart products often make users feel that they are "smart", just like smart phones have been recognized as the norm of mobile phones.

Therefore, for products, the definition of intelligence may not be that important. Even from a commercial perspective, the value of the word "intelligence" has dropped sharply after its proliferation, but this cannot stop the continued prosperity of smart hardware. Putting aside the dimensions of products, technology, and industry, there are some irresistible social drivers behind this phenomenon, and it will also bring about some social changes. Based on this point, we have launched the special topic "Smart Eyes on Intelligence" to discuss the pros and cons of the smart industry with readers from a different perspective.

【Family】

As family functions enter the process of intelligence, will machines change the future family structure?

The family is a microcosm of social change. As the most basic social unit, it is also one of the main landing points of industrial transformation. Therefore, the first article of [Smart Eyes on Intelligence] will start from the family and observe these smart products that are closest to users' lives.

According to the statistics of the proportion of financing amount by Sutu Research Institute, the financing amount of household products accounted for 37.2% of the entire smart hardware industry in 2015, which does not include products related to family such as maternal and child care, education, gender, and elderly care. It can be said that the family has become the most closely related intelligent occasion to the lives of modern people. According to the theory of family sociology, it is generally believed that the family includes functions such as production, consumption, childbirth, education, support, nurturing, entertainment, and emotional sustenance. This division method seems to be equally applicable when transferred to the product level.

Last week, we published an article titled "Infant care is becoming smarter and preparing for a second child must keep up with the pace of technology ", which indirectly reflects that in the early stages of family gestation, there are signs of intelligence. In fact, the battle line of home smart devices is far more than that, and basically covers specific childbirth and nurturing links from pregnancy preparation, prenatal education to infant care, early education, etc. In addition to relying on the maturity of the corresponding disciplines, the large-scale appearance of these products in the Chinese market is largely due to the improvement of the education level of the younger generation and their increasingly open and inclusive mentality.

On the one hand, young people have stronger professional and cross-professional qualities and are creative in using technology to solve problems. Taking smart musical instruments in the education market as an example, the product team needs to have a strong grasp and integration ability of music, education, software and hardware development, the Internet and other knowledge or skills. This also applies to home monitoring products.

On the other hand, as the post-80s and post-90s grow up and mature, young people contribute more and more to the family, and the right to speak in the family is gradually shifting to the back. Compared with the previous generation, this group of people has a higher average education level and is more receptive to high-tech products. These two points combined have opened the door to the "home" for smart products.

The improvement of production efficiency has laid a good material foundation for family entertainment. Parent-child and interactive products use technology to strengthen the family's entertainment function, and fun smart products cater well to the human mating method that is not mainly for reproduction.

Changes in family structure are also the reason why smart products for families appear frequently, especially for elderly companionship, children's education/companionship, and housework products. More than 30 years of the one-child policy and the wave of urbanization have made it a common phenomenon for parents and children to live apart, which has spawned a class of smart products for elderly care, such as remote health monitors and real-time video/voice photo frames.

As the proportion of women entering the workplace increases, the division of family roles is also changing. The emergence of products such as cooking robots and sweeping robots may be the beginning of the transition of housework from manual to mechanized. More intelligent than mechanical labor products, companion products seem to be trying to liberate more than just physical strength, with intellectual and emotional factors occupying a larger proportion. Only this type of product truly involves the core of "intelligence": the simulation of the information process of human consciousness and thinking.

Bill Gates, Musk, Hawking and other technology giants have long warned about artificial intelligence technology. From a macro perspective, AI has the potential to destroy humanity; from a micro perspective, the entry of humanoid machines into life may cause changes in family structure. In the cognitive stage of children, companion toys with emotional expression and educational functions can no longer be simply regarded as a machine. In addition, factors such as the imbalance in the ratio of men to women have made smart companions a real need. Smart pets have begun to enter the retirement life of some elderly people. The relationship between humans and machines may be included in the consideration of family structure.

If one day, intelligent machines take care of your parents in their old age and accompany your children in their childhood, will you, as the creator of these machines, still be complacent about your own intelligence?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.