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?
Last Updated: 01.07.2025 08:35
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
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:
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.
"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?"
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Rory defends snubbing media, cites 'weird week' - ESPN
[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."
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
You can have your cake and eat it too
Defense Department signs OpenAI for $200 million 'frontier AI' pilot project - theregister.com
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Whatever.
When he's standing, in front of you
These U.S. States Have the Highest Rates of Dementia - Gizmodo
(Mumbles of assent)
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Can you name an example of bad parenting?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
There you go.^†
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
What is the best sunscreen available for summers? My skin is oily.
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Measles confirmed in Colorado Springs, public asked to watch for symptoms - KKTV
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Whatever.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Did You Know You Can Plug These 10 Devices Into Your Smart TV's HDMI Port? - MakeUseOf
[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.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly: