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?
15.06.2025 09:39
Whatever.
When he's standing, in front of you
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Why do some people tell the girl I like that I don’t like her when I do like her?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Why does Islam give a bad vibe?
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."
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Does any other guys get turned on by dick pic makes you lick lips because you what to suck?
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
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.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
What are the most outrageous violations of restaurant buffet etiquette have you seen?
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"
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
What does it feel like wearing tights?
There you go.^†
"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?"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
You can have your cake and eat it too
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Democrats be honest, how many of you were wishing that Musk rescue space flight blew up?
(Mumbles of assent)
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
What is one fantasy you have never told anyone about but really want to do?
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:
[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.
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"