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?
10.06.2025 05:37
There you go.^†
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
(Mumbles of assent)
What are women's true thoughts and feelings on bestiality?
Whatever.
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Scientists Stunned as Rare Phenomenon Emerges from Arctic’s Icy Depths - Indian Defence Review
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
You can have your cake and eat it too
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
20-Year Mystery of The Muon's Wiggle May Finally Be Solved - ScienceAlert
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
How do I get my body in shape?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Whatever.
The World Ends with You Director Tatsuya Kando Leaves Square Enix - Anime News Network
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
[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."
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.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
When he's standing, in front of you
Why am I so jealous towards couples? Why am I tired of being single and feel my life is over?
"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?"
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.^*
Wicked: For Good trailer transports fans back to Oz - BBC
[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.
^* 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: