Meanings
- uncountableThe concept that someone can use a tool or system most effectively when they have a deep understanding of how it works.
Together, we developed a sense of what the A.I. could do. Ben, who had more experience with it than I did, seemed able to get more out of it in a stroke. As he later put it, his own neural network had begun to align with GPT-4's. I would have said that he had achieved mechanical sympathy.
2023 November 13, James Somers, “A Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2025
Origin
Coined by Scottish racing driver Jackie Stewart.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mechanical sympathy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mechanical%20sympathy
“mechanical sympathy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mechanical%20sympathy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mechanical sympathy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mechanical%20sympathy.
Source: mechanical sympathy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.