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: 20.06.2025 01:14
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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:
Whatever.
What did someone say to you that instantly made you realize their life was in danger?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
[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 wait any longer for the world to begin?
Do you consider masturbating to porn cheating if you are married?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
[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."
Are Indian youths conservative or liberal?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Whatever.
There you go.^†
When he's standing, in front of you
How do I develop the patience to read books?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
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).
Can you share summer photos? Day 8
(Mumbles of assent)
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Can you describe what it's like to live in a town known for Harley Davidson motorcycles?
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why is there so much evil in the world?
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.
"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?"
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"