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 December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.

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

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

Trump's U.S. Steel decision may come later than expected - Axios

Whatever.

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

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

Photos: Why it took courage for these women to pose for the camera - NPR

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:

^* 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?"

James Webb telescope discovers 'a new kind of climate' on Pluto, unlike anything else in our solar system - Yahoo

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

(Mumbles of assent)

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

Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 11 Coming Soon - Blizzard News

"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?"

When he's standing, in front of you

Whatever.

Are Indian girls awesome in bed? Do they taste different than our American girls? Does anyone has experience with both American and Indian girls?

[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.

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

There you go.^†

Sean Combs Trial: Possible Juror Dismissal and Mogul’s ‘Threatening’ Voice Notes - Rolling Stone

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

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

Is there anything you did that you regret? If so, what is it, and why?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Why do so many FtM people act like MtF people don't exist and what the hell am I supposed to do as an MtF person?

[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."

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

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

What are some small, random things that annoy you to no end?