Relational vulnerability and technological mediation: The ethics of intelligent eldercare

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Philosophy of Technology
• Sociology of Aging

Background:

• China's elderly care system is rapidly integrating intelligent technologies.
• This technological shift creates ethical tensions between traditional filial piety and modern technological rationality.
• Intelligent elder care services present convenience but raise ethical concerns regarding intergenerational relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an analytical framework, relational vulnerability, integrating technology philosophy and Confucian ethics.
• To examine how technological mediation impacts intergenerational ethics in elder care.
• To address the ethical challenges posed by intelligent elder care services in China.

Main Methods:

• Developed the "relational vulnerability" analytical paradigm.
• Combined philosophy of technology with Confucian relational ethics.
• Analyzed the effects of technological mediation on intergenerational ethics.

Main Results:

• Intelligent services paradoxically enhance physical care while diminishing emotional ties, causing alienation.
• New forms of alienation emerge, including quantifying filial duty and disrupting ritual-based behaviors.
• Western autonomy-based ethics are insufficient for Chinese elder care contexts.

Conclusions:

• Proposed "differential regulation" and "embodiment retention" for culturally calibrated human-machine symbiosis.
• Offers new applications for Confucian bioethics in the technological era.
• Provides novel perspectives on moral dilemmas in intelligent elder care.