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?
13.06.2025 01:36
(Mumbles of assent)
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Florida higher ed board stuns UF, blocks Santa Ono from becoming president - Gainesville Sun
When he's standing, in front of you
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Wing and Walmart are bringing drone delivery to 100 new stores - The Verge
[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.
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[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."
US growth likely to slow to 1.6% this year, hobbled by Trump's trade wars, OECD says - ABC News
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Discovery of 100-million-year-old dinosaur eggs reveals life in Jurassic America - Earth.com
There you go.^†
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Where did Noah build the Ark? Was it in a desert or near water?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about 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.
What is the cost of living in Sweden as a family?
Whatever.
You can have your cake and eat it too
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Canadian Robot Finds a Weight Beneath the Ocean Equivalent to 250 Million Elephants - Jason Deegan
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"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?"
Why do Christians think voting for Trump is any better than voting for Kamala Harris?
Whatever.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
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: