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: 17.06.2025 06:42
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?"
When he's standing, in front of you
What is the boldest and craziest thing your mother has ever done for you?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life - Space
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
(Mumbles of assent)
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
What is the craziest thing that you've ever witnessed?
There you go.^†
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
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.
Over 46,000 Grafana instances exposed to account takeover bug - BleepingComputer
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
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
[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.
Why do people always talk about Ohio as it's a dangerous city?
Whatever.
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
What is your review of Kota Factory Season 3 (TVF Original)?
[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."
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Whatever.
What caused the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential campaign to implode so horrifically?
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).