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?

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:

(Mumbles of assent)

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Why do Indian parents force their kids to do stuff?

There you go.^†

"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:

Why does the God of the Bible condemn homosexual acts?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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.

If atheists are so positive that there is no God, where is their proof that He does not exist?

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

[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."

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

Japanese culture: Is it true adult adoption is common in Japan?

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

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

Whatever.

What do you think of the Black history lessons in the PBS documentary about jazz pianist-singer Hazel Scott?

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

When he's standing, in front of you

[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.

Had strong anxiety, heart palpitations, headaches and fear randomly over twin flame presence, 20 mins later he didnt acknowledge me saw a photo of a girl on the back of his phone faced up. Assume it was a new gf. Was this a warning of seperation?

You can have your cake and eat it too

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

Is anyone else losing complete respect for the US at this point?

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

"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?"

What is your opinion on The Beatles' impact on modern popular music? Are there any other bands with similar impacts on their genre(s)? Why them and not others?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

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

What would you do if you found out that someone had broken into your home while you were sleeping?