Demonpore 64 – The first molecular gaming console | Hacker News Reader

Demonpore 64 – The first molecular gaming console

molecular.tv

32 pointskemmishtree16 comments

What is it exactly? Is it somehow related with nanopore DNA-sequencing machines of Oxford Nanopore?

Best I can tell, it's some strange complex electronic networked chemistry set that sends data back to home base for mass analysis.

It's all supposedly for humanitarian purposes but I am unfamiliar with the bodies involved so you'll all have to do your own research.

That's a hilarious, 80% accurate, impressionistic description. The misleading part would be to call it a "chemistry set", since that involves doing reactions, etc., and the instrument itself is just *detecting* cells and molecules.

I am the chief "body involved" (CEO/founder), and I suspect if you knew me you'd consider me a humanitarian, FWIW. Perhaps a too-humanitarian.

A 100% accurate description, hilarious or not, would be more welcome than a drive-by remark. What it is ought to be immediately evident from the linked page. Why should we need to guess?

Do we buy the console? Who says what goes in the vials? Is it necessary to clean it out if its nanopores get gummed up, or replace parts? Nothing about this thing is clear.

Very fair and useful criticism, and great questions that really cut to the chase. Next version of the site will make everything more clear, and you'll hear about it first if you're on the mailing list.

"Do we buy the console?"—yes, details on pricing etc. forthcoming "Who says what goes in the vials?"–you, and the game designers. The console takes "local inputs"(yours), supplied reagents, and combinations of both. "Is it necessary to clean it out if its nanopores get gummed up?"–yes, there will be easy-to-follow cleaning protocols for the pore cartridges. "...replace parts?"–just the cartridges themselves, you'll switch them in and out during and between different games.

Get on the mailing list and all will become clear. We're still early... but there's a substantial no-bullshit vision here worth waiting for.

It's a nanopore-based molecular sensing device that lets you play "molecular games", large-scale gamified biomolecular experiments.

Oxford's instruments are focused on DNA, demonpore's instruments are focused on everything else.

Is this targeted only to people knowledgable in chemistry and "nano stuff"?

I feel like I would be a target audience (games that do real world science and a greater good mixed with some cool looking hardware gadget, hell yeah) and I have children that would probably be interested in such thing.

But even after this extra explanation I don't understand what is the thing actually doing. What is the exact game mechanism? Do I only observe things; do I score better if I am fast or smart; what is the bio stuff in those things and how does it affect the games?

Could you maybe explain it like I'm five? Without using the words nano and molecular and bio and dna :)

Just imagine a door with a breeze blowing through it. You can feel the wind if you stand on one side. When stuff goes through the door it blocks the air going through the door. You can learn about stuff by putting it through such doors and seeing how much air different stuff blocks.

The Console at the link above lets you do nanotech, by playing games to put lots of tiny stuff through lots of tiny doors, and thus get big data about tiny stuff. With more data, the sensors can get smart enough to be useful for various applications, like detecting viruses or measuring your poo. Truly, we live in the future

My favorite "game" listed on the site is Poop of the Gods.

From what I understand, as one plays these games, the console's sensors will be analyzing actual samples of food, poop, microbes, viruses, pollutants, and other molecules..?

YES! It's not just an in silico project, it's real stuff from inside you, around you, and custom reagents we'll ship to you.

Thank you for the reply. Wow, so it is about playing with real molecules.

This is a fascinating and ambitious project that deserves a much bigger audience. I'm surprised this particular post didn't generate so much interest - it may have just slipped by; it seems like exactly the kind of creative technological application that HN users love.

I hope the PR/marketing efforts continue, with new articles, etc., so that more people get a chance to understand how cool it is.

I'm actually glad it hasn't gone viral--we needed to hear this feedback first. It would suck to have a million page views and most people baffled by it as they are now... We (a small incredibly persistent and talented team) are working on the iteration that makes the whole thing clear to an intelligent ten year old--the version that will be worth doing press for and getting a featured post about.

ATM we need to close our seed round so we're ready to actually ship and support a small alpha release. Regardless of how much attention we have or even capital, it'll only make sense to have a few hundred out there as we work out the kinks. But viral attention and a ton of people having to wait for the beta is fine as well, and if they see how much fun the alpha group is having in spite of the kinks--a lot of the play will be in a kind of "game show" format live, that you'll be able to watch and participate in even without a console--that'll have an impact, I think.

Message me if you're an angel investor or willing to share it with people who will get on the phone with me and can invest. Either way, hope to see you on the sign up list!

And thank you for "getting it". Yes, it's literally an advanced scientific instrument disguised as a toy, and it's our trojan horse for solving biology at population scale, bringing along "the masses" into the adventure in a way like nothing else quite has. We've chewed through mountains of concrete to bring this to where it is, and I want early investors to envision that this might literally be the most important project in the history of biotech... So I read your post with glowing warmth and happiness, and I needed that today!

Is the name a take on the infamous demon core incident? Fun name! For those interested...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core

haha god no, you're going to REALLY scare people with that! I actually read that wikipedia page a few years ago but didn't make the pun-connection. No, our name is actually way cooler than that, and incredibly appropriate to our core tech. Here's the explainer:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GH-XswAuRAksoCur5uVM...

Also, rather than leaving a trail of radioactive tears in its wake, the project is very much intended to save lives.

Neat funny little thing! You wrote you put much effort into the nanopore sensing technology. Is it or would it be useful in a dedicated analytical instrument in an actual lab setting too? I.e. what is the specific reason you "limit" yourselves to the toy/population scale aspect?

My caffeine-addled brain can't resist these good questions but I really gotta go get that money. You should PM me and let's talk (better yet get on the mailing list/wait list on the website and I'll reach out to you this weekend.)

It's not limiting, quite the opposite. I already know that people who work in labs want this. How many of those are there? Versus, science fans who play video games, overall. Pretty big difference in addressable market size. More importantly, it detonates the priestly class. It's a gutenberg thing...

MORE more importantly, imagine you could "spin up" thousands of lab technicians at any time to do your experimental protocols at scale, except they're not miserable wage slaves, they're playing games and finding joy. You'd rather have that than a single instrument at your bench.

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