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: 29.06.2025 01:51
"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
[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."
"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?"
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Whatever.
How does a 45-year-old man get a girlfriend?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
John Brenkus, host of Emmy-winning ‘Sport Science’ on ESPN, died by suicide - New York Post
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
A spinning universe could crack the mysteries of dark energy and our place in the multiverse - Space
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.
[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.
In the last 500 years, have there been civilizations whose cruelty matched that of Nazi Germany?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Liam Coen: I think Trevor Lawrence’s footwork has drastically improved - NBC Sports
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
There you go.^†
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Are there any penalties for bestiality in the USA and laws prohibiting it?
When he's standing, in front of you
(Mumbles of assent)
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
‘She never sleeps’: This platform wants to be OnlyFans for the AI era - CNN