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: 28.06.2025 07:43
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"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?"
When he's standing, in front of you
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why do narcissists and especially covert narcissists always play the victim?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
(Mumbles of assent)
'I feel for Jackson': Tigers' Jobe out for season with elbow surgery - The Detroit News
There you go.^†
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Feeling antsy in your legs at bedtime? This condition may be to blame - CNN
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Whatever.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Whatever.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
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:
How can someone feel more FTM when AMAB?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Was Adam white or black (African)?
[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."
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
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.
Missouri governor signs Chiefs, Royals stadium bill - NBC Sports
[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.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
VMware drops the lowest tier of its partner program – except in Europe - theregister.com