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?

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

Whatever.

When he's standing, in front of you

In what ways does Bollywood represent India's culture to the rest of the world through movies, songs, and dance? Is this representation accurate?

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

[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.

Whatever.

Where did Kamala Harris learn how to change positions so quickly? Did she learn it from working in the world's oldest profession?

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

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

"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?"

My stepmother has banned me from the family. Can she legally keep me from going to my father's funeral?

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

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

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Vantablack Paint Might Have A Legitimate Use Case In Space - Jalopnik

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

(Mumbles of assent)

There you go.^†

Why are liberals so bad at grasping alternative facts? For example, if something doesn’t happen the exact same way Trump described it, liberals dismiss it as false; while conservatives are able to fully understand the underlying principle.

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

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

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

I'm British and I hate my glasses. Are prescription glasses better in New York City?

You can have your cake and eat it too

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:

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.

What’s a historical event you wish more people talked about?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

We now told, by Senator Grassley, that on the FBI form about the Biden bribery story, there is a Burisma exec who says he has 17 tapes of his deal with the Biden. 15 of Hunter and 2 of Joe Biden? What would this do to Hunter/Joe Biden if released?

[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."

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

Why are Trump's and Khan's experiences with authorities in the US and Pakistan similar?