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?"

You can have your cake and eat it too

[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."

Apple will let third party music apps show animated artwork on the iPhone lock screen, not just Apple Music - 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.

(Mumbles of assent)

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

When you visit a store, do you go to shop or buy?

[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'?"

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

How many couples swap wives?

When he's standing, in front of you

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

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

Is using an ambulance really free in countries with universal healthcare, or are there hidden costs like deductibles that people should know about?

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

[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.

"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?"

How is it not psychopathic to use someone for sex, even if they agree?

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

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

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

How can someone determine if their partner is in another romantic relationship, particularly if they do not live together?

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

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Why do people believe that global warming is man made?

Whatever.

There you go.^†

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:

Wow! The changeover from President Biden to VP Kamala Harris as candidate could not have been more successful in just 2 days! It was as if they had been planning it. Could they have planned it? Are you excited by the positive Democratic response?

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

Whatever.

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

What species of fish are horse mackerels?