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?
12.06.2025 06:02
"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?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
You can have your cake and eat it too
The FCC is cracking down on EchoStar’s deployment of 5G. - The Verge
When he's standing, in front of you
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Tom Hanks finally breaks his silence on daughter’s bombshell memoir: ‘Not surprised’ - New York Post
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
[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.
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
The Law Firms That Appeased Trump—and Angered Their Clients - WSJ
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
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.
(Mumbles of assent)
How Dragonfly will support the search for life on an uninhabitable world - NASASpaceFlight.com -
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Whatever.
[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."
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Pharmacy group withholds endorsing CDC's latest vaccine recommendations - AOL.com
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
There you go.^†
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:
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Why is the covert narcissist actively avoiding me when they see me everyday?