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)

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

These are the best new MacBook deals in June: options starting at $649 - 9to5Mac

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.

[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."

There you go.^†

How an unnoticed pregnancy complication almost ended a young Staten Island mom’s life - SILive.com

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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:

Are there any more 'nun' jokes?

You can have your cake and eat it too

"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?"

Whatever.

Let's Weigh The Pros And Cons Of Inviting Larry David To Your Wedding - OutKick

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

[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.

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Why do people hate fat people so much, even people who aren't exactly supermodels themselves? It seems like such a deep, passionate hatred, like they're offended by fat people just existing. Fat people didn't do anything to them, so why hate them?

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

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Adopting a healthy diet may have cardiometabolic benefits regardless of weight loss - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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

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

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

Scoop: Treasury officials defend "revenge tax" from wary GOP senators - Axios

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Whatever.

Alan Alda, Mike Farrell Among Those Paying Tribute to Loretta Swit: “A Supremely Talented Actor” - The Hollywood Reporter

When he's standing, in front of you

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

What would TERFs do if there weren't such a thing as being transgender? Who would be their target?