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?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

When he's standing, in front of you

There you go.^†

Nintendo Switch 2 hackers say they’re already getting banned - Polygon

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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

Whatever.

Are today’s baseball pitchers faster than a few years ago, or is it that radar guns have improved and get the pitch speed as it is released rather than as it reaches the plate?

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

[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.

(Mumbles of assent)

Can you provide some examples of music with a free form structure?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

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.

Is Veuve Clicquot Brut a good champagne?

Whatever.

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

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:

Why is my coworker suddenly being so mean towards then being nice like nothing happened? She is nice with everyone but me.

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

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

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

What do you do when you are struggling to fall asleep?

[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."

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

How was your JEE Advanced 2024 result?

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

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

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

My boyfriend wants to break up over too many petty arguments. To me, they are molehills because I truly love him & don't really think twice about them. If he loved me would he work through it?

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

"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 can you determine which type of underwear to wear with different styles of clothing, such as dresses?