Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 243 posts

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#151

Post by KMag »

ugh123 wrote: post #113
dekhn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically, the announcement is a secret until it happens. It happens at a specific time, in Sweden, and they attempt to contact the winners at that time with a personal call ( https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/the-nobel-call/ ). My cynical side suggests it's done mostly to generate PR. See also: https://worldneurologyonline.com/article/receiving-the-call-... https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/04/scien…

I think also due to their preference on making personal contact: the news will hit the PR landscape in short time afterwards and no soon-to-be-Nobel-laureate wants to find out in some news article

> no soon-to-be-Nobel-laureate wants to find out in some news article

I understand saying that's a problem, but realistically, that's a problem very few people would be unhappy to have. Yes, it could be horribly inconvenient to stumble through a bunch of congratulatory communications before you could confirm you've actually won, but compared to wining a Nobel, it's a trifle.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#152

Post by dannykwells »

alisonkisk wrote: post #118
ip26 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, we can afford to give a nice parking space each to Watson & Crick, even if they take it easy down the road. Celebrate the heroes of your field.

Maybe not the best example.

Yeah at least for Watson!! Ew.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#153

Post by stingrae »

sedatk wrote: post #49
Animats wrote: post #45

Berkeley gives you a parking space if you work there and win a Nobel. They even have signs "Reserved for Nobel Laureate". As far as I know, Stanford does not. Doesn't Google had the leaders in auction theory now? Would someone please devise a way to run a stock market as a repeated clocked auction, so that prices change, say, once every 5 minutes and high frequency trading doesn't work.

Berkeley has a denser campus therefore parking spots are probably more valuable there.

they are actually some of the very few on campus parking spots. Almost everyone else parks on the periphery of the campus.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#154

Post by rexpop »

onychomys wrote: post #39
rexpop wrote: post #29

Old boys' clubs patting one another on the back. The Nobel Prize is an embarrassment to our species.

Well, not just for boys, the two winners in Chemistry this year were female.

Two things:

1. At 6% women—and, therefore, 94% men—I would say the winners' pool is egregiously sexist.

2. An "old boys' club" is an idiomatic expression referring to exclusive, undemocratic and even unmeritocratic social circles. Not, necessarily, literal "boys."

So, in light of those two premises, I don't feel your objections carry any legitimate weight.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#155

Post by rexpop »

LockAndLol wrote: post #77
rexpop wrote: post #29

Old boys' clubs patting one another on the back. The Nobel Prize is an embarrassment to our species.

Awarding a prize for a great scientific achievement is an embarrassment to the species? I'm keen on hearing what you would prefer.

I would, frankly, love to imagine that the Nobel Prize were a purely meritocratic recognition of surpassing scientific achievement—especially insofar as that achievement reflects a material contribution to the good of humankind. Unfortunately, there are so many arbitrary, even medieval barriers to the average human's entry into the competition as to completely obviate its claims to impartial meritocracy. This is partly evident in the winners' pool being made up of 94% men, and only 6% women, when any honest scientist will tell you that women are, biologically speaking, equally efficacious scientists. The discrepancy, therefore, in their award reception—or even, to be generous, their achievement—can only be attributed to bigotry. Enormously, grossly, painfully, obviously sexist outcomes should not be revered, let alone accepted, or even acknowledged in polite company, except to decry them as I have.

There are definitely other axes on which the prize is inaccessible due not to practitioners' skill, or ingenuity, but their socioeconomic class. Ignoring this scandalous inequity is a shameful act of willful ignorance. It's an embarrassment that we call ourselves civilized, while allowing such injustice to take purchase in our collective reverence.

The prize is not important. It is the masturbatory act of a bigoted elite. It is a self-congratulatory celebration of Social Darwinism. It's gross, and a good person would be ashamed to receive it. I can understand why this would break hearts, but the emperor, here, has no clothes. The abysmal sample size should have tipped off at least one good faith statistician.

Disproportionately rich disproportionately white disproportionately men are not disproportionately superior scientists.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#156

Post by fireattack »

KMag wrote: post #151
ugh123 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think also due to their preference on making personal contact: the news will hit the PR landscape in short time afterwards and no soon-to-be-Nobel-laureate wants to find out in some news article

> no soon-to-be-Nobel-laureate wants to find out in some news article I understand saying that's a problem, but realistically, that's a problem very few people would be unhappy to have. Yes, it could be horribly inconvenient to stumble through a bunch of congratulatory communications before you could confirm you've actually won, but compared to wining a Nobel, it's a trifle.

Exactly same argument can be made for being woken up by a call at 2AM.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#157

Post by kjs3 »

eindiran wrote: post #3
Uehreka wrote: post #2

“Couldn’t you have waited until the morning?” “No! The committee is using a poorly designed auction system to disburse the awards and if we don’t both accept the award in the next 70 minutes it will go to Piketty!”

Jokes aside, why is it so important that they reach him at 2:15 AM and can't wait until the next morning?

It's the Nobel Prize. If I'd won the Nobel Prize with my buddy, I'd be right pissed if he waited till breakfast to celebrate. I'd be slightly bitter he came over at 2:15am without a bottle of bubbly. Are you really that dead inside?

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#158

Post by brownbat »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #82
TeMPOraL wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah, try that and I'm dropping any business relationship with you that I have the next morning. Or if I don't, then I'll pay a visit to the local office of our Office of Competition and Customer Protection.

Ah - you're in Europe. In the US that's a very common spam call to receive. It may come from a different number every time and the FCC and FTC (the relevant authorities) can't or won't stop it. I've had it in the middle of the night a couple of times, though I think that's not as common. It's the reason my phone is always on Do Not Disturb now.

I tried to get a company name or mailing address out of them once, but they're pretty cagey.

They were definitely using a soundboard, they'd repeat phrases that were approximate answers to my questions.

I eventually got a Google voice number in a different area code than where I have ever lived, so it's just really easy to see them coming now.

Automatic call screening is another solution. Or the authentication protocols that are rolling out way too slowly. Or just using OTT services. We never fully fix any old communication systems we just make new ones anyway.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#159

Post by systemvoltage »

saagarjha wrote: post #114
systemvoltage wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should allow rare exceptions, such as this instance.

Oh, we totally do. Usually these people are just killjoys or accustomed to humor not doing well on the site because it ends up in the bucket of being low-quality and is penalized as such.

I think humor should be less than 1% of the content on this site TBH. There are a lot of ways to get entertainment on the internet. I come to HN for serious conversation and insight.

I also think it should be like little gems sprinkled here and there to break the pattern. Any more and it desensitizes me - this is why I don't like going to Reddit.

Re: When You Win a Nobel and They Can't Reach You at Home

#160

Post by kjs3 »

kleton wrote: post #144

There is no Nobel prize in Economics

There's the Comic Book Guy I knew would show up to condescend to an otherwise kinda funny story.

Technically, it's the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Totally not the Nobel prize. Never forget that. (rolls eyes)

Post reply on HN