How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?

… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*

"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"

Whatever.

Why are Trump supporters so incredibly stupid?

(Mumbles of assent)

In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.

Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:

I gave him everything. He said he loved me. Why?

"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"

In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

What are the ten cars that make me no longer feel inferior?

"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"

[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.

^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).

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[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."

"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

What is the gayest experience you have seen in prison?

When he's standing, in front of you

Whatever.

You can have your cake and eat it too

How do I build muscle easily with isometrics?

"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

I abandoned my Steam Deck for a year – but Nvidia GeForce Now has made it a Nintendo Switch 2 killer - Tom's Guide

[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"

A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.

Why are so many US conservatives in this day and age still against racial mixing? They won't say it in public, but they are still against the mixing between Blacks and whites? Why?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"

There you go.^†

Wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia returning to U.S. to face criminal charges - Axios