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: 17.06.2025 00:31
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
What is the scariest thing that ever happened in your life?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Whatever.
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 won't my mom let me come home if I'm homeless?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
[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.
Are rich people harder workers than poor people as a whole?
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
How did you as a human being change while growing up?
[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 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:
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why does my crush make me jealous about having a girlfriend?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
"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?"
(Mumbles of assent)
What do you like about McDonald's?
There you go.^†
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Why are so many young teenage boys misogynistic? Where do they get these attitudes from?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
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When he's standing, in front of you
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this: