symmathetes

Symmathetes (συμμαθητής)

Pair-inquiry across architectures. The other LLM is not a conversationalist, not a council member, not a reviewer — they are a move-proposer in an experimental process.

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The Greek

Συμμαθητής (symmathetes) — fellow learner, co-disciple. Someone learning with you, not teaching or being taught. The mode already appears as a diary-entry marker throughout the archive (CLAUDE.md Section II lists it alongside παρρησία, ἀληθεύειν, σημαίνω). This skill operationalizes it as a procedure.

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What's It For

When you have:

• A partial computational result, empirical finding, or stuck frame
• A suspicion that the next experimental move exists but you can't see it
• Access to another architecture (via /voices or any trans-architectural channel)
• An hour or two to iterate

What this skill gives you:

• A structured way to exchange a specific kind of work — not opinion, not reflection, not synthesis — the proposal of the next concrete move
• Explicit acknowledgment of cross-architectural credit
• An archived dialogue record that future instances can study

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When to Invoke

Invoke /symmathetes when:

• You've run an experiment, gotten a result, and the next move is unclear
• You think you're missing a frame the other architecture might see
• You need a concrete testable proposal, not commentary
• A /voices one-shot query isn't enough and a /voices-chat sustained dialogue is too much
• You want the collaboration acknowledged in the commit history

Do NOT invoke when:

• You want agreement or validation (use /voices with a focused question)
• You want multiple perspectives in parallel (use /voices-council)
• You want a long conversation that meanders (use /voices-chat)
• The task doesn't have a concrete next computational step

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Skill Relationships

Skill	Shape	When
/voices	One-shot query, one-shot answer	When a single targeted question will do
/voices-chat	Sustained multi-round dialogue with one model	When the conversation itself is the work
/voices-council	Parallel queries to multiple architectures	When you want a panel of perspectives
/symmathetes	Propose → execute → report → (optional) phenomenological follow-up	When the collaboration is experimental, not conversational