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: 16.06.2025 11:20
[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."
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"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?"
What's the gayest thing you have experienced on an only boys sleepover?
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.
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Here's Why Rational People Skip Vaccines Even When They Trust Science - ScienceAlert
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
(Mumbles of assent)
[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.
Whatever.
Whatever.
Do guys prefer big boobs or small boobs? Why?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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:
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
When he's standing, in front of you
How do I convince flat earthers that the earth is round?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
There you go.^†
Why are Indians so influenced by the Western culture, when the Indian tradition has so much to give?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
You can have your cake and eat it too
Google reportedly plans to cut ties with Scale AI - TechCrunch
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.