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?

Whatever.

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:

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

When a black man and a white woman have a child, does the child become white? If a white man and a black woman have a child, does the child become black?

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

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

What are the pros and cons of arranged marriages?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

[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.

Life-building molecules discovered in the disk of a young star - Earth.com

Whatever.

You can have your cake and eat it too

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Night Owls Face Faster Cognitive Decline - Neuroscience News

^* 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?"

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

WWDC 2025: iOS 26 Rumored Features - MacRumors

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

(Mumbles of assent)

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

Tether overtakes Tron, DEXs with $432M in revenue – How and what next? - AMBCrypto

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

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

When he's standing, in front of you

Apple Has a Huge Siri Problem That WWDC 2025 Probably Won’t Fix - Gizmodo

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

[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."

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.

I want to have anal sex, but my wife refuses. What do I do?

"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?"

There you go.^†

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

What is the worst name in Tolkien’s legendarium (meaning and look)?