Latest news with #NobelFoundation
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
3 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Could Trump win a Nobel Peace Prize on Pak General Asim Munir's nomination?
US President Donald Trump's lunch with Pakistan's military chief, General Asim Munir, at the White House on Wednesday has sparked a debate, not only for its diplomatic undertones alone but also due to a startling development: Munir reportedly calling for Trump to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed that the meeting took place after General Munir proposed nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting him with helping avert a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan. 'This man [Munir] was extremely influential in stopping it from the Pakistan side,' Trump told reporters after the meeting. 'Modi, from the Indian side, and others. They were going at it, and they're both nuclear countries. I got it stopped.' While Trump framed the encounter as a diplomatic breakthrough, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian officials have repeatedly rejected this narrative. In a 35-minute call the same day, PM Modi clarified that India had not entered into any trade discussions related to Operation Sindoor and reiterated that India firmly rejects all forms of third-party mediation when it comes to Pakistan. Can Asim Munir nominate Donald Trump? While General Munir's gesture has captured headlines, it raises a critical question: Is he even eligible to nominate someone for the Nobel Peace Prize? Under the guidelines set by the Nobel Foundation, a nomination is valid only if it comes from individuals belonging to specific categories. These include current heads of state and national government officials, members of national assemblies, university professors in relevant disciplines, and past recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, among others. As a serving military officer, Munir does not meet these criteria. His nomination, therefore, would not be recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Army chiefs of any country are not eligible to nominate someone for the Nobel Peace Prize unless they also happen to hold another qualifying role under the Nobel Foundation's official rules. However, Trump could be nominated by a Pakistani official who does qualify. Additionally, the Nobel Committee does not confirm the identity of nominees or nominators, and all nomination records are kept confidential for 50 years. A public statement or media report of a nomination carries no official standing unless verified after that period. Steps of the Nobel Peace Prize nomination Nominations are submitted by eligible nominators (like, academics, politicians, past laureates) The deadline for nominations typically falls at the end of January each year Once nominations close, shortlisted nominees are then scrutinised by advisers from the Norwegian Nobel Institute Norwegian Nobel Committee is made up of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament A shortlist of approximately 20 to 30 candidates is created from the pool of nominees Shortlisted nominees are scrutinised by Nobel Institute advisers, including academics and foreign affairs experts A final decision is made in early October Although unanimity is preferred, a simple majority vote is used if consensus cannot be achieved. Nominations for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize closed on January 31 this year. So any nomination will have to wait until next year. A total of 338 candidates have been nominated this year, including 244 individuals and 94 organisations. This marks a sharp increase from 286 in 2024 but still falls short of the record 376 nominations received in 2016. Donald Trump's Nobel Prize ambitions Trump's desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize is nothing new. Since his first term, he has often voiced frustration about not receiving the accolade. In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, he remarked, 'They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize… I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.' Despite criticism over his foreign policy stances, particularly his perceived alignment with Russia during the Ukraine conflict, Trump has continued to pitch himself as a peacemaker, pointing to diplomatic efforts in West Asia and Korea as evidence of his eligibility. Four US Presidents have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the past: Theodore Roosevelt (1906) Woodrow Wilson (1919) Jimmy Carter (2002) Barack Obama (2009) In his acceptance speech, Obama himself acknowledged that his achievements were modest compared to previous laureates. Whether Trump can join that list remains uncertain, not least because his latest nomination does not appear to be procedurally valid.
Indianapolis Star
25-05-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Death row spiritual adviser, a witness to 9 executions, nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
When the Rev. Jeff Hood walked into Oklahoma's execution chamber, he found his friend Emmanuel Littlejohn already strapped to a gurney, moments away from death. When Hood pulled out some anointing oil to bless Littlejohn one last time, the condemned man offered a brief moment of levity in the grim environment. "Oh Jeff, did you bring me a blunt?" Littlejohn told the spiritual adviser – according to his mother, Ceily Mason, who was a witness to her son's execution. Turning serious, Littlejohn told his mother and daughter he loved them and reassured them: "I'm OK, everything is going to be OK." Then, Hood asked Littlejohn for forgiveness: "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to stop this." Then the man condemned to death for the 1992 killing of Oklahoma City shopkeeper Kenneth Meers − for which he maintained innocence until the end − offered absolution to the priest that helped win him hope for clemency. "Jeff, the only reason we made it this far is because of you," Littlejohn told Hood. In Littlejohn's final moments, Hood told him: "Go to the love." Hood has witnessed the execution of nine of "his guys," including the first nitrogen gas execution carried out in the U.S., that of Kenneth Smith in January 2024. "My job is to come into their lives when they have six to three months left to live and become their best friend," Hood previously told USA TODAY after David Hosier's execution in 2024. "I become their best friend in order to be their best friend when they die." For his work with death row inmates, Hood has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by David Lemley, a professor of religion at Southern California's Pepperdine University. "He's putting himself in a position to love 'the least of these,'" Lemley told USA TODAY. "It is peace for peace's sake. It's good for good sake. I think that that's worth awarding." The Nobel Foundation says 338 candidates have been nominated for the 2025 prize, though the list of nominees won't be made public for 50 years. Lemley told USA TODAY that his nomination asks the Nobel committee to consider a more personal definition of peace than what is commonly associated with the award, such as the nuclear disarmament work of 2024 prize winner Nihon Hidankyo or the efforts of 2016 winner Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos to end the country's civil war. "I believe Dr. Hood's person and work are worthy of the committee's consideration as an example of bringing both the peace that flows from honoring the dignity of disenfranchised people, and the peace that flows through the channel of one human spirit to another," Lemley wrote in the nominating letter, obtained by USA TODAY. Hood told USA TODAY that he finds his validation in being there for "his guys" at the end of their lives. "The greater honor for me is the opportunity to witness God's love flow in and out of the lives of those we marginalize and oppress here in the land of the living," Hood said. The winner of the prize will be announced in October. In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that spiritual advisers must be allowed into execution chambers if death row inmates want them. Since then, the 41-year-old Hood − who is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, with his wife and five children − has made it one of his missions to comfort the condemned in their final weeks, hours and minutes. Two of his guys are scheduled for execution on June 10: Gregory Hunt in Alabama and Anthony Wainwright in Florida. "These are people who Jeff is serving to the end of their life. He can't offer them rehabilitation, he can't offer them restoration to society," Lemley said. "But you can be the presence of peace to them in their final moments, which often, as we've seen, are really terrifying moments." Noa Dubois, the wife of former Texas death row inmate Steven Nelson, said that Hood's guidance was instrumental in her husband's final days. "When you know you know your time and date of (execution), you start to ask all those questions you know in your in your mind," Dubois told USA TODAY. "'Am I a good person? How can I achieve redemption? Is there hell? Is there heaven?' Jeff was really able to answer all those questions or at least guide Steven through those times of uncertainty." Nelson was executed earlier this year for the for the 2011 murder of a beloved young pastor, the Rev. Clint Dobson, though he maintained his innocence. Following the execution Dubois and Hood remained close. She said witnessing his outreach work helped restore her faith in humanity. "It's proof of understanding and humanity to have the connection with spirituality to put aside people's actions and just still love them and be present for them and help them navigate one of the worst horrible things that this country is doing," Dubois said. As she watched the execution of her son in Oklahoma, Ceily Mason witnessed the toll losing Littlejohn took on Hood. "I watched Jeff and Jeff bawled. Most ministers, they done been there so much it don't bother them," Mason told USA TODAY. "But I watched Jeff and Jeff bawled, he couldn't take it." Mason said that Jeff has become part of her family and presided over Littlejohn's celebration of life. "I tell him all the time: 'God gave you something that you got to deal with, Jeff'" she said. "I don't know if I could do it, but each man gets a chance in Jeff's heart. it doesn't matter if they guilty or innocent, and he knows they (are) innocent or he knows they (are) guilty, he still loves on them." Both Mason and Dubois spoke to Hood remaining in their lives following their loved ones' executions. "I think I needed as much help (after Nelson's execution) as he needed and we were both able to provide for each other, which strengthened the bond," Dubois said. "We needed to process this together." Lemley told USA TODAY that Hood's willingness to work with the condemned should be recognized by the Nobel committee as a starting point for building true peace. "If you can stand with someone who is clearly guilty of something in their final moments and offer them peace, that really says something to those of us who are hoping that people will look up and see the human cost of war, the human cost of immigration policies, the human cost of economic policies and the human cost of the rhetoric behind those things that would suggest that anybody is less than human," Lemley said. Lemley noted that some of those considered for the Peace Prize are chosen after coming to prominence and that Hood's nomination serves as a counterpoint to them.
Jordan Times
22-04-2025
- Science
- Jordan Times
Beyond AI: A new dawn
Once upon a time, there was no language. Someone started humming and language was born. Once upon a time there was no fire. Some humans rubbed stones together and fire was born. Once upon a time, there was no property. A human drew a line on the ground and said that the land on his side of the line was his. This is how property was born. Intelligence is born out of nothing. Language, fire, property were all ideas born in the human mind without any previously known information or rules or tools. We feel that Artificial Intelligence is born from huge data sets, rules set by scientists, and Large Language Models. The Americans built Chat GPT. The Chinese built DeepSeek and the search for Large Language Models began in many Asian countries. This is true today, but it is not going to be true for long. Google has created Auto-ML Zero, which is in a different universe than Chat GPT and DeepSeek. It does not require Large Language Models (LLMs). It can create its own rules merely by experimenting ideas. Unlike LLMs which build on known maths, Auto-ML Zero does not need prior knowledge of maths. It creates algorithms from scratch through trial and error, without human intervention. So far it has some limitations. It is not as original as Ramanujan. But this is the dawn of a new kind of intelligence that does not exist in history, nature, or human knowledge. Imagine a child whom you do not teach any maths. You just throw some blocks in front of her and maybe just do one or two additions of blocks by moving them. You leave the room. By the time, you come back the child has created the rules of maths. It is Auto-ML Zero, except that it has an intelligence level millions of times of a child. It can compress all ways of thinking that humans acquired in a few hours. A few months ago, I facilitated a conversation between Geoffrey Hinton and a board member of the Nobel Foundation. Prof Hinton was keen that the Nobel Foundation should create a sixth Nobel Prize dedicated to AI. He had no personal interest since he had won his prize last December. But he knew that 'artificial neural networks' on which he worked were just the beginning. The real AI race is to create new mathematical theorems and molecules that do not exist in nature. Most AI today works within the boundaries set by human designers. Auto-ML Zero challenges that boundary, potentially creating new ways of learning that humans have never conceived. Then there is Devin, an engineer created by Cognition Laboratories Company. It can handle complex tasks. It can write very difficult software code. It is not yet among the top coders today. But it can write end to end coding for complex tasks in a few minutes that top coders can do in months. It has shown that it can refine or automate Chat GPT and similar tools. It can create images with secret messages without any of the training data that LLMs need. The journey of AI is now set in the direction of new scientific discoveries. Take, for example, Insilico Medicine and BenevolentAI. These companies use AI to design novel drug molecules from scratch - not just to identify them. In 2020, Insilico developed a potential fibrosis treatment in under 46 days. Such a task traditionally took years. These systems simulate how drugs interact with human biology, making lab testing faster and cheaper. AI models developed by Toyota Research and Stanford have discovered new solid-state electrolyte materials for lithium batteries required for longer-lasting electric vehicles. Instead of testing thousands of compounds in labs, AI helped narrow the field to a few hundred viable candidates. Scientists expect that the next big thing will be in fusion energy. There are already experiments being made by laboratories in the United States. Others point out that AI that designs AI is the next step. The 'AI 2027' report forecasting where the technology is going has caused a stir in the big tech circles, though it has been predictably ignored in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It emphasises that the next Chat GPT (M) version will be with memory. It will be out in a few months. It will be able to solve problems over a long period of time. For example, Water Ministry of the country can ask Chat GPT (M) to compare data of the last three years in 100 districts and suggest strategies for reducing water stress by a certain percentage. Chat GPT (M) will be able to do it even if the ministry officials have changed in 3- year period. I have pointed out only early signs of how the Artificial Intelligence is evolving. We have not even considered the impact of quantum computing and neuromorphic computing. When these technologies are used in AI in the next 3-4 years, the future of intelligence will be beyond our imagination. There are also some examples of AI deceiving humans, for which scientific evidence is well documented. We urgently need to understand how smart AI systems can impact humanity. They may create a paradise by inventing solutions to disease, energy shortage, climate crisis, and other problems. They can also be misused by their creators, or they may outsmart their creators in deciding the future of human race as they desire it. It is about time we give attention to them before the unknown happens. Sundeep Waslekar is the President of Strategic Foresight Group, an international think tank, and author of A World Without War.
