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: 27.06.2025 09:05
There you go.^†
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
How do you emotionally react to when others seem to feel sorry for you?
(Mumbles of assent)
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Whatever.
What is a common thought that keeps people up at night? Why do some people experience this?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"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?"
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.
Kirk Cousins spoke to the media — Here are 5 things we learned - Atlanta Falcons
"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.
^* 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:
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.
Cycling Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia, Study of Half a Million Finds - ScienceAlert
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Whatever.
You can have your cake and eat it too
If you get a chance to have sex with either Kajal Agarwal or Samantha, who would you choose and why?
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
(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."
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Is it true that LGB should drop T?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
When he's standing, in front of you