The Nobel Peace Prize sucks for some. | Hacker News Reader

The Nobel Peace Prize sucks for some.

spottiness.com

4 pointsspottiness9 comments

If the Nobel Prize was motivated by some penance for the "discovery" of dynamite which made high explosives usable for wars, then a peace prize is certainly justified.

The idea of a peace prize was probably good in 1895, but it has been poorly implemented in comparison with the other prizes. To me, it just doesn't feel right to say that Albert Einstein and Al Gore are both Nobel Prize winners. Yet, because that's what it means, that's what people perceive (even in academia): that they are both Nobel Prize winners and therefore somehow equal.

“The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: /- - -/ one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The Peace Prize has been awarded 91 times in the 110 years Nobels have been awarded.

Clearly the charter has changed somewhat over the years and has moved more towards mitigating those things which are thought to be at the root cause of war and conflict.

The United States has many Nobel Prize Winners: E.g. Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Herbert Simon, Al Gore, ... What?

While we're at it, let's remove the Nobel Prize in Economics. It was not part of Alfred Nobel's original will and is also a dubious category to include with the other sciences.

I agree, although, wills aside, the one in Economics is objective when compared with the peace one.

You maybe right, but Economics at least has some scientific foundation.

Economics does have some lovely mathematics, interesting ideas, but it is not really an experimental science. Eric D. Beinhocker book, The Origin of Wealth is an interesting critique of modern economics and the problems inherent in its use in modeling the real-world. From the Nobel Prize point of view, a prize makes sense because so much of modern decision making is informed by economics, right or wrong. BTW, the economics prize was not one of the original Nobel Prizes and was not created by Alfred Nobel.

I dont think it is just about sciences... There is a Nobel prize in Literature. Economics is fine. Now more than ever Economics is a very important subject in our life. People should learn more about it so let's give a Nobel prize to the best in that field.

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