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?

(Mumbles of assent)

"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?"

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

Do you like wearing short skirts?

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

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.

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:

NASA sounds alarm over massive planetary anomaly spreading worldwide traced to unknown forces beneath Earth’s crust - Glass Almanac

[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.

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

There you go.^†

What do you think of TikTok's internal analysis finding nearly twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden ones on the platform since November?

[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 wait any longer for the one you love?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Hegseth warns China poses 'imminent' threat to Taiwan and urges Asia to boost defence - BBC

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

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

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

New study maps psychological pathway from childhood abuse to adolescent addiction - PsyPost

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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

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

Hypertension: New drug shows strong results in managing blood pressure - Medical News Today

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

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

Horoscope for Thursday, June 12, 2025 - Chicago Sun-Times

You can have your cake and eat it too

Whatever.

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

Real TikTokers are pretending to be Veo 3 AI creations for fun, attention - Ars Technica

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Whatever.

When he's standing, in front of you

Would you respect the US with a woman as president?