There has been work of similar spirit going on since at least 2017 in mathematical/theoretical physics. With similar limited importance. But the ideas are float

There has been work of similar spirit going on since at least 2017 in mathematical/theoretical physics. With similar limited importance. But the ideas are floating around already for a long time. But if DeepMind gives it a go they make a big fuzz about it, and of course they even do not need to cite previous works ...