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?

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.

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

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 are there posts saying the T in LGBT should be dropped? With what is happening in the US and beyond against the trans community cause for concern that if this is accepted could it be deemed acceptable to start on the LGB community again?

(Mumbles of assent)

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

[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."

How do people who are deaf learn sign language? Is it typically taught by parents at a young age or are there programs available for learning it later in life?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Whatever.

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

How can someone feel more FTM when AMAB?

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

"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

What is your opinion on the band Nickelback? Why do they receive criticism from some people?

Whatever.

There you go.^†

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

Why was Nietzsche against essentialism?

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

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

GUNTHER wins the world heavyweight championship back from Jey Uso - Cageside Seats

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

[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.

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

Measles case confirmed in Allegan County, officials provide locations of exposure - WWMT

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

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

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

Why do British people always write "xxx" after their names?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

When he's standing, in front of you

"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?"

EA's cancelled Black Panther game would have featured an evolved take on Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System - Eurogamer