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: 23.06.2025 15:17
"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?"
When he's standing, in front of you
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Immunotherapy Drugs Show Major Progress in Early-Stage Cancer - Bloomberg.com
[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."
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
How do we write and pronounce "it's my pleasure" in Italian?
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Country music legend refunds all tickets mid-show, saying ‘I don’t give a damn’ - MassLive
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
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.
Is helping Ukraine worth risking WW3?
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
[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.
You can have your cake and eat it too
If you got to make your own K-pop year-end awards show for 2024, who would win?
Whatever.
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Marines in LA as ICE protests spread to more U.S. cities: In photos - Axios
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
"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:
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
(Mumbles of assent)
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
WWE RAW 6/2/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved - Wrestling Inc.
There you go.^†
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
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:
Antidepressant withdrawal may be more persistent than doctors realize - PsyPost