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 11:53
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Astronomers stunned as giant planet challenges what we know about space - The Independent
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
There you go.^†
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
How can I easily get rid of my writers block?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
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:
Was Daenerys' downfall inevitable after she left Meereen in Game of Thrones?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Whatever.
[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.
Why are there so many single moms in America?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
[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."
Whatever.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Apple is on defense at WWDC 2025 - The Verge
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)
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Project Century Gets A Strange New Title - GameSpot
When he's standing, in front of you
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Can you make a fake K-pop group? It can be with any idols.
You can have your cake and eat it too
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
"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?"