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?
11.06.2025 03:03
"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?"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
(Mumbles of assent)
Is there anything wrong with me because I'm still single?
You can have your cake and eat it too
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Whatever.
MIT’s Chilling Experiment That Could Prove Gravity Is Quantum - SciTechDaily
There you go.^†
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Project Century Gets A Strange New Title - GameSpot
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
When he's standing, in front of you
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Whatever.
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.
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Has your wife or girlfriend ever been felt up in public by a stranger?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
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:
Could Patriots cut Stefon Diggs and owe him nothing? It’s complicated. - NBC Sports
[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."
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for one minute?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Is there anything you did that you regret? If so, what is it, and why?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
[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.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Scientists Stumble Upon The World’s Oldest Stomach Stone Fossil - The Daily Galaxy