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?

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

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.

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

As a NATO/Ukraine supporter, since you're so blown away and angered by Trump putting Zelensky in his place yesterday, why don't you support the Ukraine by joining the Ukrainian army? There's 200,000,000+ of you. Put your money where your mouths are.

"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?"

… 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'?"

If James Bond is meant to be the best secret agent in the world, how come all the bad guys in the World seem to know who he is?

There you go.^†

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

Inflation report suggests damage from Trump's tariffs isn't guaranteed - Axios

Whatever.

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

What were some of the unforgettable incidents from your school life?

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:

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

When he's standing, in front of you

How do I overcome attachment issues?

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

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

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

When I buy a house, do I automatically own all items the previous owner failed to remove from the property?

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

[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."

[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.

How can people balance religious beliefs with seeking professional mental health care?

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

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

(Mumbles of assent)

Summer here, the one who debunks atheism. Isn’t it funny how atheists always say they prefer a “no-nonsense, evidence-based approach” to understanding the world, but when I bring up logical arguments for theism, they suddenly clam up?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Whatever.

How do you confront your own family for not inviting you or leaving you out of things?