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: 18.06.2025 12:28
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Why are leftist movements so popular among young people?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
[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."
Whatever.
What is a good habit and what is bad one?
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 one you love?
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
What makes cars from companies like Dacia or BYD appealing compared to Tesla, especially in Europe?
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why is Harley-Davidson dropping diversity initiatives after the right-wing anti-DEI campaign?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
[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.
You can have your cake and eat it too
Major supermarket chain workers start strike across 4 cities - TheStreet
^* 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:
When he's standing, in front of you
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"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:
There you go.^†
Why does cocaine makes me want to dress up and get fuck
"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?"
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
(Mumbles of assent)
What is the most inappropriate thing your wife has done in front of you?