An adjunct professor at the University of Southern California called the device that 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed brought to his Texas school a “fraud.” Thomas Talbot, who is also a medical expert involved in “virtual reality and technology for health,” said in a YouTube video that all Mohamed did was remove an old digital clock from its plastic case.
Mohamed was detained after school officials flagged the device as suspicious.
In the video that has gone viral, Talbot analyzed the device.
“This is simply taking a clock out of its case, and I think probably for provocative reasons, intentionally,” he said.
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“Unfortunately, whether it fits your narrative or whatever you want to believe … this particular child down in Texas did not make anything,” Talbot said. “He did not make a clock. He simply took something out of the casing.”
“Whether he was trying to grease the school, or whether this is something … I don’t know,” he continued. “But I can tell you, this is a manufactured product and not an invention. And people should not recognize this as an invention and recognize this child as an inventor for this particular creation, when plenty of other kids have invented things.”
“So if you thought is kid had made an invention, you’ve been fooled,” Talbot concluded.
Another YouTube user named “G O’LastName” took it a step further. Opening an old digital clock and placing it in a case similar to Ahmed’s in just 20 seconds, G O’LastName recreated the “clock” nearly identically.
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