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?
09.06.2025 04:38
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
What are you struggling with in your life? What would you like to have instead?
There you go.^†
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:
[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."
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They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
^† 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?"
End of an Era: Landsat 7 Decommissioned After 25 Years of Earth Observation - USGS (.gov)
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
[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.
When he's standing, in front of you
Ground beef sold at Whole Foods might be contaminated with E. coli, USDA warns - CNN
(Mumbles of assent)
Whatever.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Why is that Hag Hillary Clinton so quiet these days? She is the dog that isn't barking
^* 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.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Finance leaders fear destructive U.S. debt scenario - Axios
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"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?"
Snakes in the yard … maybe more in the future - ironmountaindailynews.com
You can have your cake and eat it too
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Whatever.