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?

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

There you go.^†

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

US lawmakers fire back a response to Trump's NASA cuts - theregister.com

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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.

When he's standing, in front of you

Evidence piles up that Trump's tariffs are crushing job market - Daily Kos

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

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

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:

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Whatever.

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?"

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

Whatever.

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?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

Do you think the constitution and laws should be taught in school?

[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.

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).

Why do flat earthers think using globetrotter, globetard, and other insults will make the educated arguer fall for the silly flat-earth belief?

[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."

(Mumbles of assent)

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

How do I know if he loves me? When he wants me to be his gf he make time for me and send me morning and night messages and done everything to melt my heart. Now I am his gf and he don't treat me that way now.

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

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

Why would a person who is educated and skillful still find it hard to get a better job?