Fission for Compliments

It took the inventor of dynamite 158 years to blow up irony. The Nobel Prizes were famously established in the will of Alfred Nobel. While Nobel invented dynamite (and a lot of other stuff) and made his fortune off that creation and by selling armaments, the peace prize given in his name was just awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” Maybe the Nobel committee should start giving awards for reputation management? Or maybe my nuclear reaction is the result of being too jaded by our current era when lying and gaslighting are often rewarded. Let’s focus on the positive and embrace the progress this award represents. NPR: A Japanese organization of atomic bombing survivors wins the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

+ “Adam Smith has spent 18 years recording the moments after the world’s brightest minds receive a life-changing call from the Nobel Prize committee.” Not all Nobel laureates react the way you might expect. (These days, every call or text I get is from someone raising money for a campaign. So if by chance I’m selected by the Nobel Committee, I’ve requested that they slide into my DMs.)