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?

"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?"

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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

Why do Puerto Ricans come to this country flying their flags over in the United States all over their cars? They're so proud of their country. Why are they here?

Whatever.

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

(Mumbles of assent)

13 million years ago, this object released as much energy as a billion suns in a fraction of a second! - Farmingdale Observer

When he's standing, in front of you

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.

People Who Have Been Stuck In A Coma Are Sharing What Happened, And Whoa - BuzzFeed

There you go.^†

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

Can people who have never met you tell if you are a covert narcissist?

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

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

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

Why do women need to wear bras, in spite of the fact that the breasts are an integral part of the body?

"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?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Administration to phase out NIH support of HIV clinical guidelines - The Washington Post

… 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.

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

Woman banned for life from cruise after 'breaking rule' she shared on social media - LADbible

[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.

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."

What do you think about other people's K-pop opinions?

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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:

2025 NBA Finals: 4 things to watch for in Game 7 of Finals - NBA