Yes, your opinion is very true! We have been discussed this aspect (partially, phylosophical) of smart materials as mainstream science topic in some papers (f.e., Pleskachevsky Yu.M., Shil’ko S.V., Stelmakh S.V. Evolution and structural levels of materials: adaptive composites // Journal of Wave–Material Interaction.– 1999.– Vol. 14, № 1–2.– P. 49–58) and, more recentlly, in monography "Smart Materials Taxonomy / CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015. – 277 p" . I hope, this information will be useful for you.