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 01:27
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"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."
PS5's Brilliant New State of Play Breaks Records for Sony - Push Square
(Mumbles of assent)
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
How to reduce your risk of melanoma and other skin cancers - KSLTV.com
"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?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
How Creatine Became So Popular With Women - WSJ
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
There you go.^†
"D Gukesh Was Blindly...": Magnus Carlsen's First Reaction After Loss To Indian GM - NDTV Sports
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:
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
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
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:
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Whatever.
You can have your cake and eat it too
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.
What is the dirtiest thing you have allowed your husband to do?
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?"
When he's standing, in front of you
Mia Goth Joins Shawn Levy’s ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ Alongside Ryan Gosling - Variety