Zenons Demon and the Denial of Domain-Generality for Transformer-Based Computational Models of Human Behavior

Abstract

Transformer-based models of human behavior (e.g., the Centaur model by Binz, et al., 2025) posit to be domain general computational models of human behavior. The claim of domain-generality is by virtue of the supposed capability to predict and simulate human behavior across a vast range of cognitive and perceptual domains. Further, it is argued that this degree of performance places such models on a path toward general, unified theories of cognition (Newell, 1990). We contest this characterization. We propose the Domain-Generality Thesis: A computational model is domain-general if and only if it performs well across a structurally distinct set of tasks. While transformer-based models of human behavior achieve impressive statistical breadth, we demonstrate that, by example, they fail this structural criterion, conflating parametric variations of a single task with genuine cognitive diversity. We construct an argument that denies the domain-generality of transformer-based models of human behavior and thus denies the purported status as a start on the path towards general, unified theories of cognition.