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?

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

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:

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

Nelly Korda coaxes in final birdie, overcomes front-nine 40 to stay in U.S. Women's Open mix - NBC Sports

Whatever.

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

Why prices from these cities in Utah and Nebraska won't be included in inflation data - NPR

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?"

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.

Elon Musk posts throwback to SpaceX’s garage days after the 500th Falcon rocket launch; his caption reads - Times of India

There you go.^†

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

(Mumbles of assent)

Why would my ex block me after I blocked him?

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

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Eum sit quibusdam aperiam culpa ipsa culpa odio.

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

When he's standing, in front of you

Whatever.

Sean Combs Complains to Court Sketch Artist - Newser

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Why do we let ugly men exist?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

What qualities do single women typically look for in a man? Is it a common preference for women to want a man who earns more than they do?

"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.

[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."

Is there a possibility of call centres returning from outsourcing or offshoring in the future?