Iris van Rooij 💭
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
Professor of Computational Cognitive Science | @AI_Radboud | @[email protected] on 🦣 | http://cognitionandintractability.com | she/they 🏳️🌈
Pinned
![Figure 1
Illustration of why AI systems cannot realistically scale to human cognition within the foreseeable future: (b) Human cognitive capacities (such as reasoning, communication, problem solving, learning, concept formation, planning etc.) can handle unbounded situations across many domains, ranging from simple to complex. (a) Engineers create AI systems using machine learning from human data. (d) In an attempt to approximate human cognition a lot of data is consumed. (c) Making AI systems that approximate human cognition is intractable (van Rooij, Guest, et al., 2024), i.e., the required resources (e.g. time, data) grows prohibitively fast as input domains get more complex, leading to diminishing returns. (a) Any existing AI system is
created in limited time (hours, months or years, not millennia or eons). Therefore, existing AI systems cannot realistically have the domain-general cognitive capacities that humans have. [Made with elements from freepik.com.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24ngrqljhck7hpvbgrg7a23k/bafkreie5dbxbxpaszqwfbgne6pi7kf26im6chq45olvzxyyrg7eitq6uue@jpeg)
✨ Updated preprint ✨
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
For those who know what I think there is probably nothing new, but it might be useful to link to in discussions to help others. I just needed to collect these points as for me they keep coming up so much that I think it's easier to have them on my website. For example:
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
2/
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
2/
Something to consider:
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
February 18, 2026 at 2:44 PM
For those who know what I think there is probably nothing new, but it might be useful to link to in discussions to help others. I just needed to collect these points as for me they keep coming up so much that I think it's easier to have them on my website. For example:
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
2/
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
2/
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I compiled a sort of follow up here olivia.science/before/ on the situation with ppl thinking we're in some special moment:
"We have certainly been here before. Many many times in the past, companies — just like artificial intelligence (AI) companies now — have lied to us to sell us products."
1/
"We have certainly been here before. Many many times in the past, companies — just like artificial intelligence (AI) companies now — have lied to us to sell us products."
1/
February 18, 2026 at 2:44 PM
I compiled a sort of follow up here olivia.science/before/ on the situation with ppl thinking we're in some special moment:
"We have certainly been here before. Many many times in the past, companies — just like artificial intelligence (AI) companies now — have lied to us to sell us products."
1/
"We have certainly been here before. Many many times in the past, companies — just like artificial intelligence (AI) companies now — have lied to us to sell us products."
1/
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
My daughter was the first to draw my attention to the problems of AI.
The gendered and racialised dynamics of people (of course it's mostly men) telling women like @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @timnitgebru.bsky.social in the last couple of days, that their work and efforts against AI are not radical enough or other cryptogyny (gendered theft) 1/n
February 18, 2026 at 1:25 PM
My daughter was the first to draw my attention to the problems of AI.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Do you know about Mary Somerville? The word “scientist” is a thing because they didn’t know how to describe her —she had so many interests, & she was highly respected in more than one science! She had to teach herself a lot of what she knew in secret because women didn’t need to know math, etc.
February 18, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Do you know about Mary Somerville? The word “scientist” is a thing because they didn’t know how to describe her —she had so many interests, & she was highly respected in more than one science! She had to teach herself a lot of what she knew in secret because women didn’t need to know math, etc.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
We must stand "against the onslaught of AI logics in our academic environments" — when they attack women it is the same playbook as AI, making these men pro-AI unless they get serious. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
@marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social
February 18, 2026 at 11:19 AM
We must stand "against the onslaught of AI logics in our academic environments" — when they attack women it is the same playbook as AI, making these men pro-AI unless they get serious. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
@marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
None of these are one offs by the way... Women have always been really good at thinking.
7/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
7/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
"We document the participation of women in European academia [from the year 1000 to 1800]. A total of 108 women taught at universities or were members of academies of arts and sciences. Comparing them with 58,995 male scholars, we find that they were on average better."
doi.org/10.1093/ereh...
doi.org/10.1093/ereh...
February 18, 2026 at 6:45 AM
None of these are one offs by the way... Women have always been really good at thinking.
7/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
7/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
And yes... They will do this until they get rid of the women (in the historical record minimally), so let's not let them do it 😌
It's not a coincidence for example you've never heard of Margaret Cavendish from the 17th century, for example. bsky.app/profile/iris...
6/n
It's not a coincidence for example you've never heard of Margaret Cavendish from the 17th century, for example. bsky.app/profile/iris...
6/n
📚 Now reading 📚
Cavendish, Margaret (1666). Observations upon Experimental Philosophy.
(Edited by Eileen O'Neill, in 2012: www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...).
Will be compiling some quotes and thoughts over time. Pin📍or bookmark this thread if you want to follow along.
1/🧵
Cavendish, Margaret (1666). Observations upon Experimental Philosophy.
(Edited by Eileen O'Neill, in 2012: www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...).
Will be compiling some quotes and thoughts over time. Pin📍or bookmark this thread if you want to follow along.
1/🧵
Margaret Cavendish: Observations upon Experimental Philosophy
Cambridge Core - Philosophy Texts - Margaret Cavendish: Observations upon Experimental Philosophy
www.cambridge.org
February 18, 2026 at 6:41 AM
And yes... They will do this until they get rid of the women (in the historical record minimally), so let's not let them do it 😌
It's not a coincidence for example you've never heard of Margaret Cavendish from the 17th century, for example. bsky.app/profile/iris...
6/n
It's not a coincidence for example you've never heard of Margaret Cavendish from the 17th century, for example. bsky.app/profile/iris...
6/n
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
The process is "great man theorising" and they are doing it with how they started ragging on @alexhanna.bsky.social and @emilymbender.bsky.social as if their book isn't radical and groundbreaking, basically helping set the stage for anybody to fight hype nonsense.
5/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
5/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
"Great man theorising requires the (re)orientation of the theory to direct all credit to one person (or a biased subset of a select few) reminiscent of monarchy—far from the pluralistic or meritocratic facade science often hides behind"
doi.org/10.1007/s421...
doi.org/10.1007/s421...
February 18, 2026 at 6:18 AM
The process is "great man theorising" and they are doing it with how they started ragging on @alexhanna.bsky.social and @emilymbender.bsky.social as if their book isn't radical and groundbreaking, basically helping set the stage for anybody to fight hype nonsense.
5/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
5/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
For those who don't know the term cryptogyny...
Let's just chill on doing it for the billionth time.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
4/n
Let's just chill on doing it for the billionth time.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
4/n
reminder of cryptogyny, the hiding of women's contributions to science, technology, engineering, and medicine:
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
February 18, 2026 at 6:15 AM
For those who don't know the term cryptogyny...
Let's just chill on doing it for the billionth time.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
4/n
Let's just chill on doing it for the billionth time.
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
4/n
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
If you're reading this and thinking, "but Olivia, I love to *insert euphemism for my hobby of* stealing from women" then yeah,you're gonna have to block me, chief.
If you're reading and agreeing, get serious. There's a reason it's mostly women academics fighting AI.
3/n
bsky.app/profile/timn...
If you're reading and agreeing, get serious. There's a reason it's mostly women academics fighting AI.
3/n
bsky.app/profile/timn...
I helped build the FAccT academic conference, and white men like Seth have to come along and make sure that the people we tried to get away from, the TESCREAL eugenicist ghouls, have every academic space in addition to the billions they're drowning in.
February 18, 2026 at 6:14 AM
If you're reading this and thinking, "but Olivia, I love to *insert euphemism for my hobby of* stealing from women" then yeah,you're gonna have to block me, chief.
If you're reading and agreeing, get serious. There's a reason it's mostly women academics fighting AI.
3/n
bsky.app/profile/timn...
If you're reading and agreeing, get serious. There's a reason it's mostly women academics fighting AI.
3/n
bsky.app/profile/timn...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
are a typical dynamic. This time let's not. Maybe sexism and racism on the Left aren't radical, eh?
If you cannot behave, and build and on the shoulders of giants maybe you're the problem?
2/n
bsky.app/profile/alex...
If you cannot behave, and build and on the shoulders of giants maybe you're the problem?
2/n
bsky.app/profile/alex...
New book review suggests that we 1) don't have a critique of capitalism (after a chapter which spends most of the time discussing Luddite labor struggles, digital Taylorism, and automation) and 2) argues that we believe there is some fundamental ordering of the world in which "ground truth" exists.
February 18, 2026 at 6:14 AM
are a typical dynamic. This time let's not. Maybe sexism and racism on the Left aren't radical, eh?
If you cannot behave, and build and on the shoulders of giants maybe you're the problem?
2/n
bsky.app/profile/alex...
If you cannot behave, and build and on the shoulders of giants maybe you're the problem?
2/n
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
✊🏼
and I am not kidding
and I am not kidding
The gendered and racialised dynamics of people (of course it's mostly men) telling women like @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @timnitgebru.bsky.social in the last couple of days, that their work and efforts against AI are not radical enough or other cryptogyny (gendered theft) 1/n
February 18, 2026 at 8:39 AM
✊🏼
and I am not kidding
and I am not kidding
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
The gendered and racialised dynamics of people (of course it's mostly men) telling women like @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @timnitgebru.bsky.social in the last couple of days, that their work and efforts against AI are not radical enough or other cryptogyny (gendered theft) 1/n
February 18, 2026 at 6:14 AM
The gendered and racialised dynamics of people (of course it's mostly men) telling women like @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @timnitgebru.bsky.social in the last couple of days, that their work and efforts against AI are not radical enough or other cryptogyny (gendered theft) 1/n
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
more here too: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
To help us do this, we develop a lens to help us trace the harm towards women within/by AI by examining literature, film, and other media (see the figure above), and then apply the lens (also above) to current types of technologies like voice assistants to demonstrate its use.
February 17, 2026 at 7:20 AM
more here too: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
OK! I collected much of what I @spookyachu.bsky.social @andreaeyleen.bsky.social (and other collaborators not on here) have said on the Turing test (from critical, gendered, etc. angles) as it keeps being relevant: olivia.science/turing — hope it's useful for others too. Happy Sunday! 🤖💭
February 15, 2026 at 1:19 PM
OK! I collected much of what I @spookyachu.bsky.social @andreaeyleen.bsky.social (and other collaborators not on here) have said on the Turing test (from critical, gendered, etc. angles) as it keeps being relevant: olivia.science/turing — hope it's useful for others too. Happy Sunday! 🤖💭
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I blocked the original poster and can’t view the printed skeet but I wonder what possible damage is there that is caused by thinking “slop machines that are run on theft and gurgle surreal amounts of water and energy and don’t even glean actual profits and hallucinate often are overrated”
February 17, 2026 at 9:04 PM
I blocked the original poster and can’t view the printed skeet but I wonder what possible damage is there that is caused by thinking “slop machines that are run on theft and gurgle surreal amounts of water and energy and don’t even glean actual profits and hallucinate often are overrated”
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I’m coming to the conclusion that for most of us, the response to AI should be principled refusal. I know I’m not the first to say so, but I’m slow and have to think hard about these things.
February 17, 2026 at 7:18 PM
I’m coming to the conclusion that for most of us, the response to AI should be principled refusal. I know I’m not the first to say so, but I’m slow and have to think hard about these things.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Looks like a good critical write-up of Big Open Science, from @batoolmm.bsky.social who I would imagine has plenty of first-hand experience.
Adding to the To Read list
Adding to the To Read list
"This article looks briefly at exclusive systems of knowledge production. I describe how the Open Science movement that was founded to reform science often recycles the same extractive dynamics of neoliberal capitalism described by dependency theory."
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...
Rethinking Open Science • SftP Magazine
The Open Science movement promises inclusivity and better science but ignores the economic and political realities that shape research.
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org
February 17, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Looks like a good critical write-up of Big Open Science, from @batoolmm.bsky.social who I would imagine has plenty of first-hand experience.
Adding to the To Read list
Adding to the To Read list
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
📚Here is a review of Mary Henle’s book by Wertheimer: www.jstor.org/stable/1422799
“ (…) many thousands should read it. It is refreshing, disturbing, entertaining, challenging, and inspiring. It is a model of historical, intellectual, and critical analysis at its very best” (1988, p. 142)
3/🧵
“ (…) many thousands should read it. It is refreshing, disturbing, entertaining, challenging, and inspiring. It is a model of historical, intellectual, and critical analysis at its very best” (1988, p. 142)
3/🧵
February 14, 2026 at 6:28 PM
📚Here is a review of Mary Henle’s book by Wertheimer: www.jstor.org/stable/1422799
“ (…) many thousands should read it. It is refreshing, disturbing, entertaining, challenging, and inspiring. It is a model of historical, intellectual, and critical analysis at its very best” (1988, p. 142)
3/🧵
“ (…) many thousands should read it. It is refreshing, disturbing, entertaining, challenging, and inspiring. It is a model of historical, intellectual, and critical analysis at its very best” (1988, p. 142)
3/🧵
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I found one of the chapters of Mary Henle’s book online, previously published as article, this one:
Henle, M. (1978). One man against the Nazis: Wolfgang Köhler. American Psychologist, 33(10), 939.
Let me see if I can find some of the other chapters too.
pure.mpg.de/rest/items/i...
6/🧵
Henle, M. (1978). One man against the Nazis: Wolfgang Köhler. American Psychologist, 33(10), 939.
Let me see if I can find some of the other chapters too.
pure.mpg.de/rest/items/i...
6/🧵
February 14, 2026 at 6:50 PM
I found one of the chapters of Mary Henle’s book online, previously published as article, this one:
Henle, M. (1978). One man against the Nazis: Wolfgang Köhler. American Psychologist, 33(10), 939.
Let me see if I can find some of the other chapters too.
pure.mpg.de/rest/items/i...
6/🧵
Henle, M. (1978). One man against the Nazis: Wolfgang Köhler. American Psychologist, 33(10), 939.
Let me see if I can find some of the other chapters too.
pure.mpg.de/rest/items/i...
6/🧵
Not so "reputable" anymore when an editor does this 🫨
Pretty certain we just received our first AI generated action editor letter. From a reputable developmental journal as well. Reject decision, obviously.
February 17, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Not so "reputable" anymore when an editor does this 🫨
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
That quote from Mary Henle (1989) reminded me of @olivia.science et al.’s points about “terminological disarray” and how this creates conceptual unclarity and related problems in thinking about AI. olivia.science/ai
5/🧵
5/🧵
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
February 14, 2026 at 6:42 PM
That quote from Mary Henle (1989) reminded me of @olivia.science et al.’s points about “terminological disarray” and how this creates conceptual unclarity and related problems in thinking about AI. olivia.science/ai
5/🧵
5/🧵
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
📚I discovered reference to the book, btw, in an obituary for Mary Henle by Clare Porac: www.jstor.org/stable/27784...
This quote caught my eye:
“(…) conceptual muddles result from careless terminology or, equally, careless terminology reflects conceptual muddles" (Henle, 1986, p. vii).
4/🧵
This quote caught my eye:
“(…) conceptual muddles result from careless terminology or, equally, careless terminology reflects conceptual muddles" (Henle, 1986, p. vii).
4/🧵
MARY HENLE (1913-2007) on JSTOR
Clare Porac, MARY HENLE (1913-2007), The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 122, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 111-113
www.jstor.org
February 14, 2026 at 6:32 PM
📚I discovered reference to the book, btw, in an obituary for Mary Henle by Clare Porac: www.jstor.org/stable/27784...
This quote caught my eye:
“(…) conceptual muddles result from careless terminology or, equally, careless terminology reflects conceptual muddles" (Henle, 1986, p. vii).
4/🧵
This quote caught my eye:
“(…) conceptual muddles result from careless terminology or, equally, careless terminology reflects conceptual muddles" (Henle, 1986, p. vii).
4/🧵
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Ah thank you to @nicholdav.bsky.social for finding the author @batoolmm.bsky.social on here!
bsky.app/profile/open...
bsky.app/profile/open...
New from @batoolmm.bsky.social, 'Metascience for whom?': "The system is not broken... It is designed to produce certain kinds of knowledge, funded in certain ways, published in certain journals, using certain vocabularies... That is the trap that metascience should avoid."
“We should be careful not to marginalise questions of power, because in wearing that aura of clean objectivity, metascience risks becoming strangely depoliticised.”
By @batoolmm.bsky.social
By @batoolmm.bsky.social
February 17, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Ah thank you to @nicholdav.bsky.social for finding the author @batoolmm.bsky.social on here!
bsky.app/profile/open...
bsky.app/profile/open...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
"This article looks briefly at exclusive systems of knowledge production. I describe how the Open Science movement that was founded to reform science often recycles the same extractive dynamics of neoliberal capitalism described by dependency theory."
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...
Rethinking Open Science • SftP Magazine
The Open Science movement promises inclusivity and better science but ignores the economic and political realities that shape research.
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org
February 17, 2026 at 9:23 PM
"This article looks briefly at exclusive systems of knowledge production. I describe how the Open Science movement that was founded to reform science often recycles the same extractive dynamics of neoliberal capitalism described by dependency theory."
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...
magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-poli...