The abstraction that is created to isolate against empathy, also isolates against functionality and longterm reality. Who knew.. certainly not the process designers..
I haven't seen evidence, or heard people say, that engineers have more empathy. Usually the stereotype, fair or not, is the reverse. Many of the more reviled SV CEOs are engineers; many engineers openly reject humanism like it's the latest 'smart' ideological movement.
Early in my career as a brand new baby mechanical design engineer, I would have absolutely made some huge mistakes were I not able to pick up my drawings and ask a machinist with 30 years of experience if I was being an idiot or not. I learned just as much from the welders and machinists as I did from my boss.