How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?
Last Updated: 01.07.2025 17:36
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Meta found 'covertly tracking' Android users through Instagram and Facebook - Sky News
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"
What methods do private investigators use to investigate someone in real life?
When he's standing, in front of you
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Morale craters at State Department as mass layoffs loom - The Washington Post
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Are Hailee Steinfeld & Josh Allen getting married on May 31? - Buffalo Rumblings
Whatever.
You can have your cake and eat it too
Whatever.
Aged neurons don’t respond normally to stress: Study - Parkinson's News Today
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
(Mumbles of assent)
Remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on Decentralized Finance - SEC.gov
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
There you go.^†
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.
How do scammers communicate? Do they have a specific language or slang?
[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."
In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
23andMe Sets New Auction With $305 Million New Bid From Ex-CEO - Bloomberg