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?
10.06.2025 02:59
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
What are some photos of masturbation?
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
New Study Finds 1 Promising Way To Keep Colon Cancer From Returning - HuffPost
Whatever.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
There you go.^†
First Day of Roots Picnic Was an "Absolute Disaster," Fans Say - Philadelphia Magazine
"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?"
When he's standing, in front of you
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Suspect in ‘King of the Hill’ actor’s death ‘immediately’ confessed: police - KTLA
[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.
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.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Whatever.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
What do you think about wearing sheer pantyhose?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Rare ‘Einstein zig-zag’ sheds light on universe’s hidden forces - The Brighter Side of News
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
(Mumbles of assent)
'Orthorexia' Is More And More Common. Here's What You Should Know About It. - HuffPost
[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 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:
You can have your cake and eat it too