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 02:45
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
What is the more common way to say "you're welcome" in French: “De rien” or “Pas de problème”?
Whatever.
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
What was your most memorable combat mission during the Vietnam War?
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
[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.
Are there any more 'nun' jokes?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
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.^†
It seems that I am cursed with bad luck. How do I break such a curse?
You can have your cake and eat it too
(Mumbles of assent)
"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?"
Microsoft’s Bad News—500 Million Windows Users Must Now Decide - Forbes
Whatever.
When he's standing, in front of you
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Why do unattractive men assume that a pretty woman like me want them?
[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 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:
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Sega Throws Shade At Mario Kart While Showing Off Sonic Racing: Crossworlds - Kotaku
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)