I am struck by a certain level of irony that this article exists on the front page of hn at the same time as a blog post from a university president telling students to effectively &#x27;suck it up&#x27;.<p>Empathy, and its role in design[1], is becoming an increasingly important area of study in engineering&#x2F;STEM education. Being able to understand one&#x27;s user (or users) especially when they may differ greatly from you is hugely beneficial to effective design of any product or system. It is implicitly represented in most of the modern startup movements (e.g. lean startup) that understanding your customer is vital to market formation or market progress.<p>We seem to avoid using the empathy phrase but it is ever-present.<p>[1]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tandfonline.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1080&#x2F;09544820902875033" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tandfonline.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1080&#x2F;09544820902875033</a>