Abdel Hamid 1

Karim Abdel Hamid

900 143 463
RHET 1010-1
Final Project: v4
Y Motawy
5 18 2015
Robotics of New Thebes
Despite Egypts rankings, as reported by NationMaster, of 162 nd in agriculture, it has over
32% of the workforce in this industry. Additionally, while Egypt produces little of its own
products, 17% of working Egyptians work in industry. The status as a third world country stems
mainly from the segmentation of its workforce and economic standing. The effects of having a
labor-intensive population include a lower GDP, low happiness, and a more sporadic distribution
of wealth. Egypts fall into this trap can only be cured by a shift into a more productive,
advanced, and happy society. Not only is using robotics in labor-intensive workplaces feasible
within the next ten years, but it will increase job satisfaction and health of the human population,
and therefore the overall happiness of New Thebes, improve the economy, and the overall
standard of life in the proposed city.
The proposition begins with Egyptian researchers being hired from their workplaces
abroad. This will occur through recruitment websites, job fairs, and social media. The founders
of New Thebes believe that many will be rallied to the cause due to Egyptians tendency to work
hard when shown a strong vision, as shown by both the 2011 and 2013 revolutions, with many
more examples throughout history. Bringing them in to work in the leading universities, and new
research centers, as well as with experts in the fields prescribed, will catalyze the technology.
Next, the production of the first wave of robots required will be outsourced to other Egyptian

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factories. Soon after, facilities will be built to build robotics within the city, allowing automation
should occur at an exponential rate, and the city to be self-sufficient in every aspect.
The most obvious result will be a dramatic improvement in gross domestic product of the
city. Robots will allow a new era of labor. Without suffering, twenty four hour work days, minus
maintenance, is achievable. Without worker strikes and without human weakness and limits, the
highest standard for labor is achievable. The increased production will finally allow a higher
amount of exports, and a stable amount of well-priced natural resources to the public, and a
much higher gross domestic product. With a higher GDP, enough capital for future technological
endeavors is possible. A virtuous cycle of economic progress will ensue.
The primary outcome of this policy will be a shift in the workforce from the laborintensive average city of Egypt to a worldwide superpower. Matching, and even surpassing
Silicon Valley, Cambridge, and London, will be in our reach. The shift to innovation will allow
every single person to focus on making the world better, and changing their field forever. Every
person making a noticeable change in the world is dubious at best, but, together, the citys
research labs can innovate and create incredibly advanced technology, and service each other to a
much higher degree of quality. This is made possible to the people by using tax breaks, subsidies
and decreased prices, free healthcare and superior public education, which is in turn made
possible to the state by a powerful economy, prescribed by the previous point of the robotics
labor.
In addition to these benefits to the economy, the satisfaction of the people as a whole will
increase dramatically. Labor-intensive jobs have a lot of conflicts with the desires and needs of
the people, according to Maslows hierarchy of needs. Achieving self-actualization is virtually

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impossible, workers are often degraded, and their jobs are either at risk or they are. In contrast,
with a high salary and a job that people can enjoy in either services, innovation, or entertainment,
and people can achieve every element in the Maslows Hierarchy. The theories of Karl Marx tend
to agree with this hypothesis. Marx, a 19th century German Philosopher, believes that when
workers cannot see the value of their work, their motivation falls. He also believes that the
struggles of capitalism forces people to be aggressive to one another for the sake of job security
and promotions. Some of Marxs beliefs may be naive and unobtainable, but his shift in focus to
happiness is what the future of the world should be like. When workers can visibly see a
contribution to the world, as opposed to simply mining a few ores that may or may not end up in
someones jewelry, or carrots that any farmer could create. Jobs that are artistically or
intellectually stimulating will probably be the best route, as they inspire people daily by offering
a space for a significant contribution to the world. Naturally, the primary and secondary
industries will not be closed off completely; rather they will be so unappetizing compared to the
other industry that there will be no reason to want to join it. People who insist on being farmers
can take a place either managing the robots or using vastly improved heavy machinery to work
alongside them, for instance, allowing them to achieve more, and work less. The populations
satisfaction will lend to more motivation to work. This dichotomy of socialism and capitalism,
implemented in Europe already, to a small degree, is the future. The infrastructure possible with
the powerful economy will increase happiness even more, and promote tourism.
At the top of most minds of most critics of the project would be the feasibility of
introducing such robots in such a small timeframe. Egyptian migrants, especially those in the
United States are among the most innovative of academics, and are at the forefront of
universities such as MIT, and organizations such as NASA. These institutions already have

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remarkable achievements in the field of robotics. In the present, robots are used in heavy
industry, and heavy machinery is essential to modern agriculture in the top nations in the field.
The same can be said for mining, oil refinement, transport, and most other industrial and
resource-centered fields. The integration of robotics into such machinery is not impossible; in
fact, its inevitable. Today, we see the essential technology for any work available, including
automatic walking and driving, as seen by Googles Self-Driving Car, and Boston Dynamics,
another Google subsidiary, as well as Computer Vision, which most major universities, research
labs, and major technology companies have stakes in. Most of the jobs entailed either are
performed by robotics, or can be.
Another major concern to critics may be the rights of Artificial Intelligence. Firstly, the
line must be drawn about what rights apply to. There are no rights for calculators, nor computer
software. This is because they do not have sentience, often defined as the ability to perceive
subjectively. Robots follow computer programs, and therefore such a feature must be specifically
programmed. Logically, the only possibility for sentience to happen incidentally is by selfimproving robots, as sentience is something too complex to be an accident. Instead, humans must
carefully program the robots. This is not a handicap, in fact, it will create jobs for the citys
population. Therefore, robots will not need their own rights because they are not sentient by any
reasonable definition. Additionally, there will be extra precautions inspired by Asimovs laws.
According to Isaac Asimov, a scientist and author, whose ideas shaped science fiction for
decades to come, as well as provided many concepts used in real science today, there are several
laws artificial intelligence should follow. Not only are they not allowed to injure a human, or
allow one to be injured, but they also must apply to follow all orders given to them. They will
also be programed not to physically or programmatically alter themselves.

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Essentially, the realization of such a series of technology would not only be feasible, but
will promote the economy to an incredible extent. The motive behind such a policy reinforces
two major ideals of the new city: to promote the happiness of the population, and to maintain a
great economy while doing it. Although there are critics of every policy, this policy has the
interests of those critics in mind: workers arent laid off. Instead, theyre promoted to work in
other fields, or at least work with higher efficiency. This model suits both the city, and the
people, and if the model city succeeds, the rest of the country can easily follow.

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Works Cited
Asimov, Isaac. "Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"" Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of
Robotics" Auburn University, n.d. Web. 8 May 2015.
"Boston Dynamics." Boston Dynamics. Google, Inc., 2013. Web. 17 May 2015.
Davies, Alex. "Turns Out the Hardware in Self-Driving Cars Is Pretty Cheap." Wired.com.
Conde Nast Digital, 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 May 2015.
Mark, Karl. Theses on Feuerbach. Marxists. n.d. Web. 10 May 2015.
Maslow, Abraham. "Hierarchy of Needs." Abraham Maslow - Father of Modern Management
Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2015.
"Top Stats for Egypt: Country Profile." NationMaster.com. NationMaster, n.d. Web. 8 May 2015.