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?
09.06.2025 12:36
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:
[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."
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
What is the scariest thing that ever happened in your life?
(Mumbles of assent)
"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?"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
What transforms the philosophical intellect?
[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?"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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.
Whatever.
Why do women change that much more with age?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
There you go.^†
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Why do some women squirt and some don't?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Why did my ex-narcissist move so fast with his new supply marriage engagement moving in, etc.?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Derek Carr explains his decision to give up $30 million and retire - NBC Sports
When he's standing, in front of you
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Don't you think Democrats are so full of it stool softener and an enema couldn't help them?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Is there an MBTI personality that is more or less likely to handle stress?