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 05:28
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
There you go.^†
Should we consider deporting democrats to Canada?
Whatever.
[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."
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"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:
[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.
Do Americans realize how much goodwill and credibility they've lost in the past two weeks?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
(Mumbles of assent)
Have you had any paranormal activity situations happen personally to you or someone you know?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Whatever.
Do straight guys like to have sex with men when they smoke meth?
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
When he's standing, in front of you
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
What makes someone feel "rich enough" in different societies?
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.
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
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 rough can the ferry passage from Hull to Rotterdam be in the autumn ( at the end of October )?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Would you let your son wear leggings to school?
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Notes and quotes from Day 2 of Raiders' 2025 mandatory minicamp - Las Vegas Raiders