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.

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

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

What happened to the American Russell Bentley from Texas that was fighting for the pro-Russian commies?

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

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

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

What factors may contribute to intelligent individuals identifying as Republican rather than Democrat in the United States today?

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

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Why did we evolve to have so many nerve endings in our anuses?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

[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.

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

Why is the French way to say please is "S'il te plaît" and not "Pour Favour" like Spanish and Portuguese "Per Favor" and Italian "Per Favore" in the Romance languages group?

You can have your cake and eat it too

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.

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

Why is Reddit blocked by the Indonesian government?

When he's standing, in front of you

"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?"

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

What are "demonic attacks" and how can one tell when they're happening to them, or someone else? How would one go about dealing with it?

There you go.^†

(Mumbles of assent)

Whatever.

When do you feel most peaceful ever?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

[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."

What advice would you give to a father of a teenage daughter on how to protect her from boys, dating, and social media? How should fathers discuss these topics with their daughters?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

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:

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

Is it ok to be spanked by your parents if you are not in bed in your set bedtime?