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?

[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."

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

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

What does it feel like wearing tights?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Matching dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, answering a very old question - Earth.com

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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.

"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?"

I listened to Kamala Harris speech she gave in North Carolina. I support 100% of what she said. I am more and more in favor of a Kamala Harris presidency if Biden becomes unable to be our president! Do you find yourself supporting Kamala Harris now?

[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)

Whatever.

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When he's standing, in front of you

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

There you go.^†

Robots run out of energy long before they run out of work to do − feeding them could change that - The Conversation

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

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

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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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:

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

Do you know a good lawyer joke?

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

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

Cleveland-Cliffs, Tesla, GM, Blueprint Medicines, BioNTech, DraftKings, and More Movers - Barron's

Whatever.

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

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

Devin Harjes, "Boardwalk Empire" and "Manifest" actor, dies at 41 - CBS News