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?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Whatever.

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

Is the media protecting Kamala Harris?

When he's standing, in front of you

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

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

Why are Trump's and Khan's experiences with authorities in the US and Pakistan similar?

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

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

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.

Why do men say women hit the wall at 24?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

Do many women shave their vaginas?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

"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?"

What is the most inappropriate thing your wife has done in front of you?

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

There you go.^†

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

How do you find out who your handler is as a targeted individual?

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

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:

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

Thanks to FIFA, Atlanta’s first-ever Club World Cup game was underwhelming - AJC.com

[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."

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

[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.

How do you deal with a neighbor stealing?

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

(Mumbles of assent)

Whatever.

Why did we evolve to have so many nerve endings in our anuses?