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?
14.06.2025 02:52
"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."
Whatever.
Why is it difficult to get a job?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
When he's standing, in front of you
Is it true that LGB should drop T?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Do you have pics of the wife making out with another guy?
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?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
What is the difference between Michael Corleone’s marriage to Apollonia Vitelli and Kay Adams?
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:
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
You can have your cake and eat it too
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.
(Mumbles of assent)
Whatever.
Have you ever been physically attacked by a demon?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
There you go.^†
Breast cancer makes Hull man 'feel like an imposter' - BBC
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Why do some people have sex with dogs?
[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.
[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."
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"