It’s hard for Hinton, 67, not to feel a bit pleased with himself. After a lifetime on the periphery,...

It’s hard for Hinton, 67, not to feel a bit pleased with himself. After a lifetime on the periphery, he now has a way of connecting with nearly anyone he meets. For example, when in Toronto, he works out of Google’s office downtown, which is filled with advertising employees. He’s the only researcher. Occasionally, a curious employee sidles up and asks, "What do you do?"



"Do you have an Android phone?" Hinton replies.



"Yes."



"The speech recognition is pretty good, isn’t it?"



"Yes."



"Well, I design the neural networks that recognize what you say."



The questioner nearly always pauses in thought.



"Wait, what do you mean?"

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