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?

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

"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?"

Everyone says the pet population is out of control. Everyone says you MUST spay or neuter your pets. No one wants to talk about how its almost $1,000 to spay or neuter a pet. Why is it so expensive if its so necessary? Animal shelters do it for free.

[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."

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

What are the reasons for your political affiliation with the Democratic party? What are some aspects of the party that you support and some that you do not?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

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

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

Why are black women the largest unmarried group in the United States of America?

Whatever.

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

You can have your cake and eat it too

Can I use ChatGPT to get chapter ideas? I’ll be writing it with my own words but I just get writer’s block when it comes to what to write?

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:

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.

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

In what ways is modern day Russia similar to the USSR? How does it differ from the USSR in terms of culture and politics?

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

[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"

Trump is going to target known criminals in the country illegally for deportation. The Democrats have vowed to fight him every step of the way. Don't they understand this is one of the issues that cost them the white house, the house and senate?

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

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

There you go.^†

Is it true that most people in Québec are bilingual in French and English? If so, why do they often identify as monolingual?

(Mumbles of assent)

Whatever.

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

If a female has XX chromosomes and a male has XY chromosomes, what chromosomes do transgenders have?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

When he's standing, in front of you

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

Why are right-wing commentators spreading conspiracy theories about Haitians eating local pets in Springfield, Ohio?