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?

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

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:

[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."

How do you write a letter to your uncle who sent you money for your birthday outfit?

[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.

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

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

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Whatever.

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

Do you agree that AI renders much human cognitive activity (knowledge work) as the equivalent of the old factory floor?

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

(Mumbles of assent)

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

How can Democrats not feel hypocritical when they urge Trump not to be vengeful should be become president when the Democrats are trying to put Trump into prison?

Whatever.

There you go.^†

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Is it ok for someone to crossdress in public?

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

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

"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've been listening to subliminals for 3 days. 5 videos before sleeping and after waking up. My left ear started hurting relatively bad. Is there an explanation or should I go to a doctor?

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.

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

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

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Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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

When he's standing, in front of you

What is the one thing you don't understand that others do?