In our increasingly interconnected digital world, where communication often takes place through screens and devices, fostering genuine connections can sometimes feel challenging. However, amidst this vast virtual landscape, empathy stands out as a powerful force that transcends physical barriers and brings people closer together. By cultivating empathy, we can bridge the emotional gaps that technology creates, leading to deeper understanding, meaningful relationships, and a more compassionate online community.

Empathy enables us to empathize with individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. In the digital realm, where physical distance separates us, empathy becomes an essential tool for bridging the gaps that exist between people. By actively seeking to understand others’ perspectives, we can transcend geographical boundaries and forge connections that might otherwise seem improbable. Empathy helps break down stereotypes, dispel prejudices, and promote inclusivity, fostering a sense of unity in the digital world.In the absence of face-to-face interaction, it’s easy for misunderstandings and misinterpretations to arise. Empathy helps mitigate these issues by encouraging active listening and validation. When we approach online conversations with empathy, we strive to understand not just the words being said, but also the emotions, intentions, and underlying context behind them. By acknowledging and validating others’ feelings, we create a safe and supportive space where open dialogue can flourish, promoting a culture of respect and understanding in the digital sphere.The digital world offers platforms for people to express their thoughts, share their experiences, and seek support. Empathy plays a crucial role in providing emotional support to those in need. By demonstrating compassion and empathy in our online interactions, we can make a significant difference in someone’s well-being. A kind word, a virtual hug, or a heartfelt comment can uplift spirits, validate emotions, and remind individuals that they are not alone. Through empathy, we create a network of support that transcends physical barriers, promoting mental health and resilience in the digital realm.Conflict is inevitable, even in the virtual space. However, empathy acts as a powerful tool for conflict resolution and trust-building. By empathizing with others’ perspectives, we can de-escalate tense situations, promote understanding, and find common ground. Empathy allows us to navigate disagreements with grace, respect, and consideration, leading to more constructive discussions and the potential for mutual growth. By fostering empathy-driven conflict resolution, we strengthen the bonds of trust and create a harmonious online environment.Empathy has the power to inspire positivity and drive change. In a digital world often plagued by negativity, hate speech, and online harassment, empathy becomes a catalyst for transformation. By consciously choosing to respond with empathy and compassion, we can counteract the negativity and create a ripple effect of kindness. Empathy encourages us to be more mindful of our words and actions, promoting empathy-driven initiatives, and supporting causes that uplift and empower others. Through collective efforts, empathy can drive significant change in the digital world, fostering a more empathetic and inclusive online community.

An operational and cultural shift that reveals the true heart and values of a firm is the adoption of an empathic and human-centered approach to leadership. Putting an emphasis on an employee’s skills, qualities, and characteristics that make them uniquely human demonstrates that they are working for brands that actually reflect what they regard as significant and that respect the contributions they contribute to meeting the objectives of the organisation and the individual. Such a move might position your brand as the employer of choice and make a significant difference to your staff retention statistics. Given that many employees are still evaluating their long-term career plans and looking for opportunities that line with their fundamental values, this could position your brand as the employer of cchoice Managers and business leaders must keep in mind that, above all else, your business is your people as we move forward into 2023 with the possibility of a recession and numerous problems ahead. Leaders would be foolish to overlook their team’s demands and expectations while creating your organization’s culture and long-term strategies since they are the ones who will secure your success in the months and years to come, regardless of what you sell or deliver. It takes time to create an empathic workplace culture, but even while it might not be the quick cure you were hoping for, it could mean the difference between failure and success for your business.

Many businesses have used empathy effectively in their lead generation campaigns, and these businesses’ achievements are proof of the effectiveness of this strategy. Here are a few instances of businesses that use empathy in their lead generating campaigns. Zendesk: Zendesk is a customer service software company that uses empathy in their lead generation efforts by actively listening to potential customers and tailoring their approach to meet their specific needs. By using empathy to build trust and establish a connection with potential leads, Zendesk has been able to generate a large number of high-quality leads.Using personalised content that speaks directly to the wants and worries of potential leads, marketing and sales software business Hubspot leverages empathy in their lead generation efforts. Hubspot has produced a lot of high-quality leads by leveraging empathy to establish a human connection with potential leads.In order to generate leads, Salesforce, a provider of customer relationship management software, understands the wants and motives of potential customers and then adjusts its strategy accordingly. Salesforce has been successful in producing a significant number of high-quality leads by leveraging empathy to foster trust and establish a connection with potential leads.

In a digital world where technology can sometimes hinder genuine human connections, empathy serves as a powerful antidote. By embracing empathy, actively listening, validating others’ experiences, and supporting one another emotionally, we can build bridges that connect us on a deeper level. Empathy fosters understanding, resolves conflicts, and promotes positive change, transforming the digital sphere into a more compassionate and inclusive space. Let us harness the power of empathy to forge meaningful connections and make a difference in the lives of others in our interconnected digital world.

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Interview with Prof. Giancarlo Elia Valori

China has been investing heavily in technological innovation, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence and 5G. How do you see China’s technology industry evolving in the coming years, and what implications could this have for the rest of the world?

In recent years China has delved into the importance and development prospects of artificial intelligence (AI) in many important fields. Stepping up the development of a new generation of AI is an important strategic starting point to stay ahead in the global technology competition.

The current gap between AI development and the advanced international level is not very wide, but the quality of companies must be “matched” by their number. Efforts are therefore being made to expand application scenarios, by strengthening data and algorithm security.

The concept of third-generation AI is already advancing and there are hopes that the security problem will be solved through technical means other than policies and regulations, i.e. mere talk.

AI is a driving force for the new stages of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Accelerating the development of a new generation of AI is a strategic issue for China to seize new opportunities for organising industrial transformation.

It is commonly argued that AI has gone through two generations so far. AI1 is knowledge-based, also known as “symbolism”, whereas AI2 is based on data, e.g. big data, and their “deep learning”.

AI started to be developed in the 1950s with the famous Test by Alan Turing (1912-1954), and the first studies on it started in China in 1978. In AI1, however, progress was relatively small. Real progress has been made mainly over the last 20 years – hence IA2.

AI is known for the traditional IT industry, typically the Internet companies. It has accumulated a large number of users in the development process, thus establishing corresponding patterns or profiles based on these acquisitions, i.e. the so-called “users’ taste knowledge graph” of users. Taking the delivery of certain products as an example, tens or even hundreds of millions of data consisting of user and merchant location information, as well as information about potential buyers, are incorporated into a database and then matched and optimised by means of AI algorithms. This obviously enhances trade efficacy and the speed of delivery.

By updating and upgrading traditional industries in this way, great benefits have been achieved. In this respect, China is leading the way: facial recognition, smart speakers, intelligent customer service, etc. In recent years, not only has an increasing number of companies started to apply AI, but AI itself has also become one of the professional directions that most worries candidates in university entrance exams.

According to statistics, there are 40 AI companies in the world with a turnover of more than $1 billion, 20 of them in the USA and 15 in China.

The core AI sector should be independent of the IT industry, but open up more to transport, medicine, the urban substrate, and industries directed autonomously by AI technology. These sectors are already being developed in China.

China accounts for more than a third of the world’s start-ups in the AI field. While the quantity is high, the quality still needs to be improved, although there are signs that it will evolve geometrically.

The AI implications in today’s world are therefore knowledge and technological advantages that determine – to a large extent – the differences in the management of international politics. The increase in a country’s intellectual power directly defines an increase in its economic power, thus changing its positioning in the international competition for dominance.

The politics of power – first in the agricultural era and later in the industrial era – was characterised by military and then economic hegemony, while the politics of power in the information era gradually reveals the characteristics of knowledge-based hegemony at the scientific level, which will indeed be essentially based on artificial intelligence.

2. Some people have accused China of engaging in unfair trade practices, such as dumping goods on foreign markets or stealing intellectual property. What is your opinion on these allegations, and do you believe China should be held accountable for these actions?

In fact, many Western media report that China is circumventing or breaking trade rules. Its economic manipulations have cost millions of US jobs, hurting workers and companies there but also around the world. Media also report that the United States will reject market-distorting policies and practices, such as subsidies and barriers to market access, which the Chinese government has used for years to gain a competitive advantage.

In fact, China has faithfully fulfilled the commitments made when it joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). China supports, builds and contributes to the multilateral trading system. Economic and trade relations between China and the United States are mutually beneficial. Nevertheless, the economic war between the People’s Republic of China and the United States in the trade and investment areas has been the main cause of trade frictions between the two countries, which harm others without benefiting themselves either.

Over the last twenty years since joining the WTO, China has seriously fulfilled the commitments made upon accession. It has extended the pre-determined national treatment management system to the national level. It has continued to expand market access. It has reduced the overall tariff level from 15.3 to 7.4 per cent, and opened up nearly 120 service sectors.

In October 2021 the WTO conducted its eighth review of China’s trade policies and practices. The review report fully recognised China’s efforts in supporting the multilateral trading system and its active role within the WTO.

A leading official of the UN Conference on Trade and Development pointed out that, over the past two decades, China has firmly supported the rules-based multilateral trading system; practised genuine multilateralism; fully participated in WTO negotiations; led talks in areas such as investment facilitation and e-commerce, and worked for up-to-date WTO rules.

China and the United States have highly complementary economies, deeply integrated interests, and mutually beneficial economic and trade ties. In 2021 bilateral trade exceeded a record USD 750 billion. The US Export Report 2022 released by the US-China Business Council showed that in 2021 exports of goods to China grew by 21% to USD 149 billion, supporting 858,000 US jobs. The Annual Business Survey 2020 report on Chinese companies in the United States, released by the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA, indicated that, as of 2019, Chinese CGCC member companies cumulatively invested more than USD 123 billion, as well as employed over 220 thousand people, and supported more than one million jobs in the United States. A study by the US-China Business Council showed that Chinese exports helped reduce consumer prices in the USA by 1 to 1.5 per cent, saving each US household USD 850 a year.

A report by Moody’s Investor Service was quoted as saying that US consumers bear 92.4% of the cost of imposing tariffs on Chinese products. Paul Krugman – 2008 Nobel Prize-winning economist – has incisively pointed out that the US trade policy towards China is disadvantageous and tariffs hurt the USA more than its intended targets.

On 18 May 2022 the National Retail Federation (NRF) wrote to President Biden asking for the removal of tariffs which, as outlined in the letter, could reduce consumer prices by up to 1.3%. The US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, said that some tariffs on China’s products harm US consumers and businesses and that it is worth considering cutting them to lower inflation in the USA.

I believe that – like any war – a trade war is detrimental to both sides and that – unlike the Cold War, when an opponent wanted to impose its own ideologies and forms of government and State on the other – here we end up with a country, namely China, that only demands trade and does not advocate any political revolution.

3. China has been rapidly expanding its military capabilities in recent years, with a focus on developing new technologies such as hypersonic missiles and aircraft carriers. What do you think is driving this expansion, and how do you see China’s military posture evolving in the coming years?

With a country of 1.4 billion inhabitants, the Chinese armed forces are inevitably bound to expand and strengthen. Throughout Chinese history, the military has been a fundamental factor not only in the existence of the State, but also in the liberation struggles against Japan and the various doctrines that later tried to isolate the People’s Republic of China, such as Containment, etc. In a world led by a single leader, namely the United States of America, it is important to understand the moves of the States that seek not to be sidelined. China is certainly one of the States that aspire to play at least an equal role in international relations with the USA. The military force that China has been developing over the past fifteen years has seen a significant expansion of its fleet. According to a US study, the need to secure the islands in the South China Sea would be the crux of the whole project. The Chinese island of Hainan is in fact the starting point of a maritime route that would connect China with Pakistan in the Middle East and with Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

The Chinese strategy is to invest in civil (and not military) infrastructure such as ports, oil pipelines, roads, gas pipelines within allied countries that would thus ensure security and allied bases in the Indian Ocean. Security is a crucial factor in understanding this strategy because since 1993 China has become a net importer of oil (i.e. China’s oil demand is greater than supply) and oil is imported both by land and by sea. The latter option is obviously used with African and Middle Eastern countries, but the trade route is in one of the areas with the highest concentration of sabotage, kidnapping and violence by pirates. Having allies with whom to ensure security in enemy waters becomes therefore crucial. Allied bases, however, also have the function of enabling Chinese ships to have easy and quick passage through three of the world’s richest and most dangerous straits, namely the Bab al Mandeb Strait (between Yemen and Djibouti), the Aden Strait (between Iran and Oman) and the Malacca Strait (between Indonesia and Malaysia).

I do not see why China should not strengthen its strategic potential, since all countries – from the strongest to the medium ones – do so on a regular basis, as a function of planned commercial development. It is only natural that this should also involve the development of new technologies such as hypersonic missiles and aircraft carriers, as denying this smacks of a fairy tale told to children.

4. China has been increasingly active in international organizations such as the United Nations, and has been working to establish new institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. What is China’s broader strategic vision for its role on the global stage, and how do you see this evolving in the coming years?

On 15 May 1648, the first treaty of the Peace of Westphalia was signed in Osnabrück by the Protestant princes, marking the end of the conflict between Sweden and the Habsburg Empire. Later, on 24 October 1648, the Catholic princes signed two additional treaties in Münster.

Westphalia – and, to an even greater extent, the Congress of Vienna (1 November 1814 – 9 June 1815) that replaced it – was also based on three pillars, namely multipolarism, a balance of powers and a concert of powers, which mainly meant the importance of the great powers: Austria, Prussia, Russia and the United Kingdom. In many respects, the same principles were characteristic of the Yalta-Potsdam system, which determined relations between the two superpowers during the Cold War. The rules of international law were respected mainly because there was a force behind them that could not be ignored. This is the reason why peace reigned on the European continent, and the interests of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America clashed mainly in the countries on the periphery – i.e. by shifting the Second Thirty Years’ War (1914-1945) to the countries of the Third World and the Balkans, so that the war industries in the West and in the East would anyway have their theatres and market outlets. Little could the People’s Republic of China do by calling the former social-imperialists and the latter imperialists tout court, and branding them both as hegemonists.

As stated by Henry Kissinger, when in the early 1970s the People’s Republic of China embarked on its re-entry into the international diplomatic system at Zhou Enlai’s initiative and, at the end of that decade, on its full entry into the international scene thanks to Deng Xiaoping, its human and economic potential was vast, but its technology and actual power were relatively limited.

China’s growing economic and strategic capabilities have meanwhile forced the United States to measure up – for the first time in its history – to a geopolitical competitor whose resources are potentially comparable to its own.

Each side sees itself as an unicum, but in a different way. The United States acts on the assumption that its values are universally applicable and will eventually be adopted everywhere. China, on the other hand, expects that the uniqueness of its ultra-millennial civilisation and impressive economic leap forward will inspire other countries to emulate it so as to break free from imperialist domination and show respect for Chinese priorities.

Both the US missionary impulse based on a sort of “manifest destiny” and the Chinese sense of grandeur and cultural eminence – of China as such, including Taiwan – imply a kind of subordination-fear of each other. Due to the nature of their economies and high technology, each country is affecting what the other has hitherto considered its core interests.

In the 21st century China seems to have embarked on playing an international role to which it considers itself entitled by its achievements over the millennia. The United States, on the other hand, is acting to project power, purpose, and diplomacy around the world to maintain a global balance established in its post-war experience, responding to tangible and imaginary challenges to this world order.

For both sides’ leaders, these security requirements seem evident, and are supported by their respective publics. Yet security is only part of the grand discourse. The key issue for the planet’s existence is whether the two giants can learn to combine the inevitable strategic rivalry with a concept and practice of coexistence. It is for this reason that China is increasingly active within international organisations to stabilise its role on the evolving global scene.

5. What is your perspective on the potential military applications of China’s space program, such as anti-satellite weapons or space-based surveillance systems?

Let us start by saying that the successes of the advanced Soviet missile war industry of the 1950s-1960s and the refined and extremely rich US military technology of the 1960s-1970s were certainly not due to moral missions in favour of knowledge and mankind or anything else, but were an extreme arms race. Denying this is tantamount to telling jokes in a bar. The same holds true for President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s. President Reagan at least had the good taste not to describe it with do-gooding rhetoric in favour of science and the welfare of peoples on Earth. Moreover, anti-satellite weapons and space intelligence systems or space-based surveillance, as you call it, have existed for decades.

Today the People’s Republic of China is also capable of navigating in space. One thing must be said: the competition is based not on the hope of reaching Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquillity) on the Moon or Utopia Planitia (the Nowhere Land Plain) on Mars, and from there bombing the District of Columbia.

Let us go back in time. Faced with the US and Soviet successes in the space field, Mao Zedong in the 1960s was shocked and asked: “How can we be considered a powerful country? We cannot even shoot a potato into space!!!”

Years later, in the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping replied to him: “If China had not a nuclear or a hydrogen bomb or had not launched satellites since the 1960s, it would not be called an important and greatly influential country and would not have its current international status”. Therefore, in the 21st century, manned space flight represents all of this.

On 25 December 2021, NASA launched the James Webb space telescope for infrared astronomy, capable of analyses considered impossible until a few years ago, i.e. taking detailed, full-colour pictures of an exoplanet. The James Webb telescope is completely different from those in space. It gives the possibility to observe the reflected light of exoplanets and the electromagnetic spectrum in order to detect potential biological or mineral traces. The future lies in space research, not in Star Wars, as well as in reaching the nearest asteroids and meteorites, and looking for habitable exoplanets in the distant but not remote future. On our Earth, mineral raw materials are running out. The same holds true for water, and therefore space exploration today is not aimed to wipe the opponent off the face of the earth, but to collaborate between superpowers to seek alternatives to the depletion of land and even water resources that currently – and we do not know yet for how long – permit these high levels of technology. The Chinese space programme aims primarily at this and not at destroying potential opponents, without whom the real conquest of space would not be possible.

6. How do you see China and Russia collaborating or competing in areas such as energy, technology, and military affairs?

From the tsarist expansion to the subsequent unequal treaties, until the crisis in the 1960s with the Soviet Union – as the latter had excluded it from the possibility of having the nuclear weapon, fearing the populous and enthusiastic heavy-handed neighbour that later brilliantly shifted the issue to the ideological side, thus eroding Soviet power over many of the world’s ruling and non-ruling Communist parties – China, per se – and I am not just referring to the People’s Republic of China (1949-2023) – had always held off first St Petersburg and then the Kremlin. For China – indeed for the Middle Empire – a strong Russia on the border is a disadvantage, but a weak neighbour which, in turn, can be other-directed by third parties – as happened in the 1990s – is also dangerous. The traditional solution of China’s two-thousand-year-old diplomacy is to seek a balance that does not create crises in Eurasia which, as is well known, is the last resource reservoir on planet Earth. In 2021, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the signing of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, relations between the two countries entered their third decade of stability without any form of military alliance, or even Chinese support for the invasion of Ukraine. It should also be said that arms sales to one side are counterbalanced by the other side’s same action.

7. The United States has accused China of being a major threat to its cybersecurity, with allegations of state-sponsored hacking and cyber espionage. What is your perspective on this accusation, and how do you see the cybersecurity relationship between the US and China evolving in the future?

From time immemorial, intelligence or espionage, or whatever you call it, has always been adopted simultaneously by the parties involved, with the most efficient means of the time, ranging from smoke signals to sympathetic ink, from cartographic cryptography to Enigma, from spy planes to the famous James Bond-style mini cameras. Today it is the same: the fear of espionage – be it cyber, cybernetic or satellite espionage – is two-faced, and the accusations of one side to the other are mirrored by those of the other to the one side. They therefore cancel each other with the result that whoever is better equipped knows more than the one who is less prepared. There are no victims and oppressors, there are no good guys and bad guys. There is only the reason of State, as Machiavelli teaches us.

8. Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 US Presidential election through hacking and cyber espionage. How do you see China’s relationship with Russia in the realm of cybersecurity, and do you think China could be implicated in similar activities?

You know, I am merely a business manager, a geopolitical scholar and a university professor. Part of my answer on China-Russia relations is under point 6. However, in order to fully answer this brilliant but very difficult question of yours, we should address to the highest-ranking and most arcane levels in the USA, Russia and China.

Thank you for the interview.

Space, in terms of business, has always been seen as the domain of large corporations and state space agencies with multi-billion dollar budgets. In the last decade, however, private companies have become the main driver of the space industry. As private space companies launch more and more satellites into orbit, new data determine the development of farmland, arctic transportation routes, and much more. Satellite images of Earth are a very interesting, objective and at the same time quite accessible source of information on physical, economic and social processes at the scale of a city, a country, or even the entire planet. This technology is already being used in practice in a wide range of sectors and businesses. But how do you get those pictures? Where do you find most recent satellite images or historical space data? And most importantly, how exactly do they benefit your business?

How Satellite Imagery Is Catering to Businesses

Space is much closer now than it used to be. Commercial companies are sending many more satellites into orbit than ever before, providing incredible accuracy in almost live satellite view of our planet. Here are some of the most prominent examples of how satellite imagery can help effectively solve tasks across industries.

Agriculture

A number of agri companies use satellite imagery to predict annual farm yields, mainly focusing on popular crops such as wheat, corn, and soybeans. These companies produce estimates that will be useful to farmers, traders, insurers, etc. All by using machine learning to analyze satellite images, taking into account external factors such as location, weather, and historical crop performance. This information can help a company save on labor costs, estimate its earnings for the year, and make better deals with buyers.

Finance

Some data extracted from a number of satellite images (e.g. the number of cars in the parking lots of retail chains) can be used to infer a company’s revenues before the quarterly/annual reports are released and earn on that by trading on the stock exchange.

Insurance

One can extract quite a lot of information about insured objects from space images — the condition of the roof, changes in land plots. Thanks to almost real time satellite imaging, this information can be obtained with high frequency (including on request) and without an inspector’s visit, which allows to reduce costs.

Real Estate

The data that can be retrieved from satellite images (the presence of parks, the number of stories of houses, or air quality) can be used to estimate the value of a particular property or to determine the wealth of the local population. This method is already used by public organizations (e.g. World Bank) to measure the level of poverty, since it is often difficult to collect information using traditional methods (surveys).

Where To Look For Satellite Imagery: Free and Paid

Space imagery has recently become more accessible, with some data freely available on the Internet. Free satellite pictures of Earth are usually of low or medium spatial resolution, when high and ultra high resolution pictures come at a price. More so, in order to solve applied tasks (processing) the original space images with all related information, spectral breakdown, etc. are required. For that purpose, there are online tools that offer satellite imagery analytics on the fly.

One of such digital instruments is EOSDA LandViewer. This satellite imagery catalog allows for searching, visualizing, processing, storing, and downloading of data. The analysis can be performed through the application of over 10 spectral indices depending on business tasks and challenges. The platform offers free low and medium resolution pictures, but high resolution imagery will have to be paid for.

Users can choose a specific area of interest when searching for the image to retrieve data on the exact territory they need. They can also compare the images of the same area made by different satellites at different times. Apart from that, the mosaic feature enables combining different images to create a full image of a specific AOI.

The tool provides access to both historical and most up to date satellite images, which enables change detection. With the help of a time lapse feature the users can also create animation to track how the change occurred visually.

You can easily detect the change by comparing various images of the same AOI taken by multiple satellites, on different dates, and even at a different time of day, using the split view mode and time series analysis, and visualize the results as a time-lapse animation. In addition to default indices, users have an opportunity to create custom indices by applying different combinations of spectral bands.

The amount of information that can be extracted from satellite imagery is very large, and the scope of its application is limited only by imagination. This source of data is available worldwide now, and in the future its quality will increase, its cost will decrease, and its use will become easier thanks to web-platforms and APIs.