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?

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

(Mumbles of assent)

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Is anal sex allowed in Islam? It's not written anywhere in the Quran whether it's forbidden or not.

There you go.^†

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

[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."

Do you think some men have sex with prostitutes because they're too afraid to talk to women? Money does the talking for them.

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

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

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

What are you struggling with in your life? What would you like to have instead?

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

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

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:

Is it possible to achieve spiritual enlightenment while being in a romantic relationship?

When he's standing, in front of you

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

[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.

If our normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, why do we perceive weather in the 90s as "hot?"

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

"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?

Do women lack the mental strength to succeed at STEM? There seems to be few women at STEM and more women leave STEM after a time of working at it. How can it be just sexism if women aren't banned from entering?

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

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

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

Im happy but there is a heavy feeling of sadness in my heart that I just can't remove. Why am I like this?

You can have your cake and eat it too

Whatever.

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 are European countries warning European travelers to be careful traveling to the United States?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Whatever.

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Why does my crush always looks at me in a sad way whenever I talk with other boys, and if he catch me staring on him then he go and flirt with other girls and then check if I am looking at him?