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 💭
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...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
@olivia.science They're going to compel me to do yet another paragraph by paragraph analysis. "Brilliant"! the man said.
Absolutely brilliant piece about the Left's TOTAL blindness on AI. Their dismissal of AI risks mirrors how climate deniers treat CO2.
Will probably get a lot of nastiness for this on Bluesky, but I guess that's part of the same problem.
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
Will probably get a lot of nastiness for this on Bluesky, but I guess that's part of the same problem.
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
The left is missing out on AI
As a movement, it has largely refused to engage seriously with AI, ceding debate about a threat and opportunity to the right
www.transformernews.ai
February 17, 2026 at 6:25 PM
@olivia.science They're going to compel me to do yet another paragraph by paragraph analysis. "Brilliant"! the man said.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
also... bsky.app/profile/oliv...
100% and please, people, consider signing "Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia." olivia.science/ai/#activism
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
February 17, 2026 at 6:27 PM
also... bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
If you find our educational materials of use, we’d love to know.
And don’t forget to cite us 🙏
Blokpoel, Mark & van Rooij, Iris (2021-2025). Theoretical modeling for cognitive science and psychology. computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/.
And don’t forget to cite us 🙏
Blokpoel, Mark & van Rooij, Iris (2021-2025). Theoretical modeling for cognitive science and psychology. computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/.
THEORETICAL MODELING
for cognitive science and psychology
computationalcognitivescience.github.io
December 27, 2025 at 9:02 PM
If you find our educational materials of use, we’d love to know.
And don’t forget to cite us 🙏
Blokpoel, Mark & van Rooij, Iris (2021-2025). Theoretical modeling for cognitive science and psychology. computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/.
And don’t forget to cite us 🙏
Blokpoel, Mark & van Rooij, Iris (2021-2025). Theoretical modeling for cognitive science and psychology. computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
We use this textbook also in online workshops that we have organised over the last two years. In 2027 we may move to organise a Radboud Summer School on the topic.
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/
Theoretical Modeling Workshop
Cognitive and/or psychological theories often start as verbal descriptions of observed regularities in human behavior and some intuitive ideas about their causal origins. Such informal verbal theories...
computationalcognitivescience.github.io
December 27, 2025 at 9:02 PM
We use this textbook also in online workshops that we have organised over the last two years. In 2027 we may move to organise a Radboud Summer School on the topic.
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Mark Blokpoel & I have maintain a living open interactive textbook “Theoretical Modeling for Cognitive Science and Psychology.”
Recently, Mark updated Ch 9 & 10 so they have embedded, running and editable, code again.
Check it out! ✨
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
Recently, Mark updated Ch 9 & 10 so they have embedded, running and editable, code again.
Check it out! ✨
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
December 27, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Mark Blokpoel & I have maintain a living open interactive textbook “Theoretical Modeling for Cognitive Science and Psychology.”
Recently, Mark updated Ch 9 & 10 so they have embedded, running and editable, code again.
Check it out! ✨
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
Recently, Mark updated Ch 9 & 10 so they have embedded, running and editable, code again.
Check it out! ✨
computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I also like Ryle's way of saying it that we used here: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/25289
> Paralogisms and antinomies are the evidence that an
expression is systematically misleading. — Ryle (1931, p. 168)
which I'm sure inspired my "terminological disarray" ofc, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxyg...
> Paralogisms and antinomies are the evidence that an
expression is systematically misleading. — Ryle (1931, p. 168)
which I'm sure inspired my "terminological disarray" ofc, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxyg...
February 14, 2026 at 7:34 PM
I also like Ryle's way of saying it that we used here: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/25289
> Paralogisms and antinomies are the evidence that an
expression is systematically misleading. — Ryle (1931, p. 168)
which I'm sure inspired my "terminological disarray" ofc, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxyg...
> Paralogisms and antinomies are the evidence that an
expression is systematically misleading. — Ryle (1931, p. 168)
which I'm sure inspired my "terminological disarray" ofc, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxyg...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
And — final one promise and sorry! — this one with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and my PhD candidate Natalia, that I think might help people protect themselves from some very unwanted theoretical issues that fly under the radar nonetheless! bsky.app/profile/oliv...
I've felt for a while that a mainstream method, reverse engineering, in cognitive science & AI is incompatible w computationalism‼️ So I wrote "Modern Alchemy: Neurocognitive Reverse Engineering" w the wonderful Natalia S. & @irisvanrooij.bsky.social to elaborate: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/25289/
1/n
1/n
February 17, 2026 at 6:19 PM
And — final one promise and sorry! — this one with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and my PhD candidate Natalia, that I think might help people protect themselves from some very unwanted theoretical issues that fly under the radar nonetheless! bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Also this one, esp that Box in the quoted post below, for theories that allow mental / neurocognitive representations — obviously not idea if useful for you, but maybe? If not, feel free to ignore me obviously! bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Tired but happy to say this is out w @andreaeyleen.bsky.social: Are Neurocognitive Representations 'Small Cakes'? philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24834/
We analyse cog neuro theories showing how vicious regress, e.g. the homunculus fallacy, is (sadly) alive and well — and importantly how to avoid it. 1/
We analyse cog neuro theories showing how vicious regress, e.g. the homunculus fallacy, is (sadly) alive and well — and importantly how to avoid it. 1/
February 17, 2026 at 6:16 PM
Also this one, esp that Box in the quoted post below, for theories that allow mental / neurocognitive representations — obviously not idea if useful for you, but maybe? If not, feel free to ignore me obviously! bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Thank you for sharing these! I am sure I saw this before, maybe you posted it back on twitter? Great list. Have you seen my work w @andreaeyleen.bsky.social here, might be useful on some of the more nuanced aspects of the ANN/LLM/etc theorising; particularly proud of this 1: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Proudly published with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social:
A metatheory of classical and modern connectionism. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
We touch on what has been up with connectionism as a framework for computational modelling — & for everything it seems these days with AI and LLMs — pre-2010 vs post.
1/n
A metatheory of classical and modern connectionism. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
We touch on what has been up with connectionism as a framework for computational modelling — & for everything it seems these days with AI and LLMs — pre-2010 vs post.
1/n
February 17, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Thank you for sharing these! I am sure I saw this before, maybe you posted it back on twitter? Great list. Have you seen my work w @andreaeyleen.bsky.social here, might be useful on some of the more nuanced aspects of the ANN/LLM/etc theorising; particularly proud of this 1: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Since I'm pontificating about good scientific practice (while procrastinating & not actually doing science), here's a reminder of my guide on the role of theory in cognitive science (NB I do not claim to be a theory-driven science expert - comments welcome
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Theory: What to read
The role of theory in cognitive science Or: my guide to what to read if you really want to understand how to do good, robust , theory-driven cognitive science. (disclaimer: this is an aspirational gu...
docs.google.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Since I'm pontificating about good scientific practice (while procrastinating & not actually doing science), here's a reminder of my guide on the role of theory in cognitive science (NB I do not claim to be a theory-driven science expert - comments welcome
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
100% and please, people, consider signing "Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia." olivia.science/ai/#activism
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
February 17, 2026 at 6:01 PM
100% and please, people, consider signing "Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia." olivia.science/ai/#activism
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
direct link to sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
💔 predictable, painful, disgusting,
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 17, 2026 at 5:26 PM
💔 predictable, painful, disgusting,