Most things are named after pieces of shit. Being a piece of shit is the number one way to get something named after you. That’s not to say the Nobels aren’t a sham, but conceptually there are more offensive things than a prize that’s supposed to go to someone who contributes to humanity. Impressive that the system so effectively coopted them to do more shitty things. Important lesson there.
The science ones are generally legitimate. The literature and peace prizes have been wholly co-opted by western interests. The economics prize isn’t even a real Nobel, it’s just a prize sponsored by the Swedish central bank and administered by the Nobel Institute, and it’s a pure PR tool for legitimizing neoliberalism.
Reddit banned all the subreddits I actually enjoyed so I stopped participating altogether. It’s helpful to recognize that reddit’s structure leads to total stagnation in the content. I haven’t been active for years, but I still end up on a reddit thread from time to time to get answers to questions that Google should be answering (that’s another topic altogether) and I see the same stake jokes being made, the same arguments being had, the same mediocre insights from the same dull people, and it makes me so glad that I left. I don’t begrudge younger people going through the process of figuring out how to engage with the world, but I also don’t want to participate.
By “generally legitimate” I just mean that they’re awarded to scientists for real things, as opposed to, like, giving the medical prize to RFK Jr. It’s still a shit institution.