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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

You can have your cake and eat it too

‘Borderlands 4’ Is Now My Most-Anticipated Game Of The Year - Forbes

"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:

When he's standing, in front of you

Why do Argentinians use "vos" instead of "tú" in informal speech?

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

Whatever.

Whatever.

Why doesn't California have the tools, people, means to put out these fires even though they know there will be fires every year?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

"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?"

(Mumbles of assent)

Have you ever secretly watched someone while they were doing something private?

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

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Can a mother forget her child after she puts him or her up for adoption?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

There you go.^†

Musk Denies Ketamine Use Following New York Times Report - Bloomberg.com

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

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

How much gold is there in the world? - Live Science

[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.

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

[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."

Target and Walmart tariff price hikes leak online from an unlikely source - Mashable

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

^* 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.

You hold the door open for a lady and she stops in her tracks and screams at you, ‘Don’t hold the door for me! I’ll get it myself!’ What are your feelings or immediate reaction?