Ahmed Mohamed: Richard Dawkins criticises 14 year old for 'pretending to invent' clock - People - News - The Independent

21.9.15

Ahmed Mohamed: Richard Dawkins criticises 14 year old for 'pretending to invent' clock - People - News - The Independent



In a series of posts on Twitter, Professor Dawkins suggested
14-year-old Ahmed might have "wanted to be arrested", and criticised the
boy for claiming the clock was his "invention".


He said Ahmed appeared to have bought a clock and taken it out of its
case to impress his teachers, adding: "Police played into his hands?
Now invited to White House, crowdfunded, etc."


He tweeted:

Assembling
clock from bought components is fine. Taking clock out of its case to
make it look as if he built it is not fine. Which is true?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

Yes,
there are other reasons why a boy might take a clock out of its casing
& pretend he'd made it. Trying to impress teachers, for instance

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

If the reassembled components did something more than the original clock, that’s creative. If not, it looks like hoax http://t.co/bBcaWoJpbd

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

Ahmed, from Irving, Texas, made the clock - a circuit board and power
supply wired to a digital display stuffed inside a hologram case – and brought it into school to show his teacher who thought it looked like a bomb.