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?

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

(Mumbles of assent)

Weather makers: How microbes living in the clouds affect our lives - BBC

"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?"

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Whatever.

Why would my husband cheat on me with an ugly fat woman?

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

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:

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

20-Year Mystery of The Muon's Wiggle May Finally Be Solved - ScienceAlert

There you go.^†

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

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.

ChatGPT future just revealed — get ready for a ‘super assistant’ - Tom's Guide

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

What’s one positive trait you’ve gained because of BPD?

[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."

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

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

1-In-100,000 Chance Earth Could Be Yeeted Out Of The Solar System By A Passing Star - IFLScience

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

Whatever.

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

CLARITY Act takes center stage, throws SEC-CFTC feud into focus - AMBCrypto

When he's standing, in front of you

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

Listen to the eerie sounds of Mars recorded by a NASA rover - Mashable

[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.

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

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

What is the hidden meaning behind 'Skibidi Ohio', and why is it trending?