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?

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

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

What do you think will be the biggest factor in determining whether Daniel Penny was justified in believing that Jordan Neely had posed a deadly threat in the manslaughter trial?

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

When he's standing, in front of you

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 do Indian parents force their kids to do stuff?

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?"

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

What sexual experience did you have at a highway rest area?

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

Whatever.

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

If an abortion doesn’t affect you, why do people make it a big deal?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

There you go.^†

[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."

Why are some people afraid of monsters?

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

My husband asked me why do I keep on complaining about him cheating. Why don't I just leave?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

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

Romania in the past was a poor country, but last year the government announced it had 521 billion leu (113$ billion dollars) revenue. Why is so much? What's the reason?

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

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

[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.

When does a man tell a woman he has feelings for her?

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

(Mumbles of assent)

Whatever.

Why does it itch on my vulva, uterus, and sides of my vagina, but it doesn't itch inside the vagina?