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?
12.06.2025 09:41
Whatever.
There you go.^†
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Why are there so many girls and not enough boys to follow?
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"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:
Is it true that LGB should drop T?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"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?"
High-Average, Low-Slugging Hitters Are Back, and Baseball Is Better for It - Sports Illustrated
You can have your cake and eat it too
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
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:
Measles confirmed in Colorado Springs, public asked to watch for symptoms - KKTV
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Doctors Have Been Saying Sugar Is Bad – But They Missed This - SciTechDaily
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.
[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."
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Analyst Suggests Apple Might be Considering Buying Unity After Legal Defeat to Epic Games - 80 Level
Whatever.
(Mumbles of assent)
When he's standing, in front of you
Why are there so many single moms in America?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
[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 Trump's and Khan's experiences with authorities in the US and Pakistan similar?