How long until a social media influencer wins a Nobel Prize?

Question

The Nobel Committee has shown a tendency to award prizes not just for meaningful technical contributions, but also for work with just contemporary relevance. This could be seen as an attempt to maintain their own relevance in the modern world. Given this trend, is it inevitable that a social media influencer with a large following but no original scientific work will receive a Nobel Prize? If so, how soon might this happen?

jfengel · Accepted Answer

I see no reason to think that the science prizes have any interest in "social relevance".
The peace and literature prizes do, because those subjects are defined by their contemporary relevance. The peace prize is frequently controversial, and I'd say that it's best suited to bring attention to somebody who isn't already famous.
Most of the Peace prizes that people do widely agree on are already "influencers", and have been since the beginning. Their influence usually requires physical presence and a lot of effort, but I see no reason it couldn't go to somebody who was effective just by being on social media.
A literature prize could conceivably be given for a social media account, but it seems unlikely to be soon. Even a controversial choice like Bob Dylan got it for a lifetime of highly enduring work.

WheelsAtLarge · Answer

I say 25+ years. The prize committee has to be used to the idea of influencers, so once Gen Z dominates the committee, we'll see one. Of course, the influencer will need to do something worthy &mdash;maybe an influencer who aids in world peace. Or one who uses their followers to aid in a world-changing study or experiment.I'm more interested in knowing what an influencer will need to do to get the price.

JojoFatsani · Answer

Barack Obama already did.