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 06:54
Whatever.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
[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."
How do you emotionally react to when others seem to feel sorry for you?
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.
Whatever.
When was the last time you had sex with someone much older than yourself?
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:
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
"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 is the dirtiest thing you have allowed your husband to do?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why do old men think young women and girls would want them over guys their own age?
There you go.^†
[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.
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Why are people nowadays so into anal sex?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
What do you think, TikTok is nothing but another porn site? Do you agree or not? Why?
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.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
(Mumbles of assent)
"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."