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Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

nobelprize.org

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Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#291

Congrats to the laureates! Maybe a Computing prize should be created though, like Nobel did not create the "nobel prize of economy".Though you could argue that Computing is Math? What are computer scientists usually awarded with? edit: s/rewarded/awarded

I think there's some backlash against a google-able answer here.

However, from memory the list of biggest awards for CS/Math are:

Fields medal

Abel prize

Turing award

Godel award

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#292

Congrats to the laureates! Maybe a Computing prize should be created though, like Nobel did not create the "nobel prize of economy".Though you could argue that Computing is Math? What are computer scientists usually awarded with? edit: s/rewarded/awarded

>What are computer scientists usually rewarded with?

The Turing Award is considered by most to be the highest award in computer science.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#293

When the most significant advance since electrification needs to hop the fence to be recognized, perhaps it's time to add a new field. It can be done, the Economics prize was added in 1968.

the economics prize is not 'official', it was established by the Swedish National Bank in honor to Alfred Nobel.

I see this written a lot, and I don’t get it.

What matters for an award is that people recognise it as a prestigious accolade.

The economics prize, while not “official”, is still recognised by everyone in economics as the highest honour in the field. Who cares if it’s “official” or not?

Awards and prizes derive their value from their social recognition, which it has a solid amount of, at the very least.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#294

When the most significant advance since electrification needs to hop the fence to be recognized, perhaps it's time to add a new field. It can be done, the Economics prize was added in 1968.

The economics prize is not an actual Nobel prize, but something "inspired" by the Nobel prize. It's little more than a tool to push neoliberal policies to the public, with 34 of the 56 winners tied to the Chicago School of Economics.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#295

To be fair, Nobel Prize has a history of expanding the traditional bounds of respective fields when awarding the prizes: Bertrand Russel got the Nobel prize in literature Daniel Kahneman got Nobel in economics

The economics prize is not a Nobel prize.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Altough of course you're right, let's play devil's advocate an imagine a world without Nobel prices. Laypeople needs a simple way to know who's who in advanced research fields, without Nobel prices (or any other commitee) we don't get to have that. If people gets to ignore (more) such topics, it's likely politicians, and universities react accordingly, and funnel funds to other enterprises. All these prices (I'd say…

>> Laypeople needs a simple way to know who's who in advanced research fields, without Nobel prices (or any other commitee) we don't get to have that. I think first you're underestimating "laypeople" which seems to include many scientists who are not physicists, and second you are forgetting that many of the scientists the "lay" public knows as the greatest of all times never received a Nobel, or any other famous pri…

Do laypeople know Kepler?

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#297

Honestly it feels a bit weird with a Nobel laureate in physics who probably knows a lot less physics than even I* do… Makes me cringe a bit to be honest. Also makes me sad when I think about all the physicists and engineers who have made the chips that can train multi-billion parameter neural networks possible. I mean the so-called “bitter lesson” of AI is basically “don’t bet against the physicists at ASML et al”. N…

I work in industry supporting these supply chains; our advancements are part of a hive mind that could be harmed if individuals were artificially highlighted for achievement.

The academics can have their awards, we smile seeing the world change a bit at a time.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf]

#298

When the most significant advance since electrification needs to hop the fence to be recognized, perhaps it's time to add a new field. It can be done, the Economics prize was added in 1968.

Nice idea. You could also have a Nobel prize in applied mathematics, perhaps? This would cover ML and physics. That said, your idea would make physicists less outraged.

I like this idea, after all math is its own field of study. We might call it "field prize" or something like that (this comment is just a pun)
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