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?

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

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

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

Man called in bomb threat after missing flight at Detroit Metro Airport, feds say - The Detroit News

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 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:

When he's standing, in front of you

Why does my vagina smell sort of fishy/musty days after sex when my boyfriend ejaculates in me? There isn’t any itching or burning when urinating, so I don't think I have BV. It just doesn't smell like me.

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

(Mumbles of assent)

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Chips Ahoy and Oreo maker Mondelez sues grocery chain Aldi over similar packaging - CNN

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

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

Has anyone experienced an out of the body experience, as a child, years before you had ever heard the term or understood the implications?

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Whatever.

Can anyone or anything overthrow your belief in the Jewish God?

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

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?"

'Mission: Impossible 8': Inside How They Shot Underwater Submarine - IndieWire

[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.

There you go.^†

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

How can we understand the mind of a Trump supporter?

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

[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."

Whatever.

Which document should be pointed out to a holocaust denier?

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

Why is Harley-Davidson dropping diversity initiatives after the right-wing anti-DEI campaign?