> Grok (/ˈɡrɒk/) is a neologism coined by the American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. While the Oxford English Dictionary summarizes the meaning of grok as "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with" and "to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment",[1] Heinlein's concept is far more nuanced, with critic Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. observing that "the book's major theme can be seen as an extended definition of the term."[2] The concept of grok garnered significant critical scrutiny in the years after the book's initial publication. The term and aspects of the underlying concept have become part of communities such as computer science.
I never knew the etymology [0] but always knew the word for as long as I've been into computing (90's) .. apparently it's from the 1960's from a Heinlein novel!
Started hearing about it in ~2022 when some ML researchers accidentally left a model training on over a weekend. For a while the model wasn’t doing much (so they were going to turn it off) and then over the weekend it got surprisingly good.
kaycebasques|9 months ago
> Grok (/ˈɡrɒk/) is a neologism coined by the American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. While the Oxford English Dictionary summarizes the meaning of grok as "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with" and "to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment",[1] Heinlein's concept is far more nuanced, with critic Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. observing that "the book's major theme can be seen as an extended definition of the term."[2] The concept of grok garnered significant critical scrutiny in the years after the book's initial publication. The term and aspects of the underlying concept have become part of communities such as computer science.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok
skarz|9 months ago
Usage of 'grokked' on HN: 1,147[1]
Usage of 'hacked' on HN: 37,272[2]
[0] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=g...
[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
kevinsync|9 months ago
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok
BalinKing|9 months ago
janalsncm|9 months ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokking_(machine_learning)
StefanBatory|9 months ago
skarz|9 months ago