Sleepy-Head

The MinIon is an array of nanopores – 512 to be precise – and circuitry housed in a USB stick. Why a USB stick? “The form factor is determined by the requirements” – as there are no fluidics you don’t need a big machine. There are no fluidics. “Your fluidics is a Gilson”, said Brown. The prototype version has an ugly battery pack attached to it but it will eventually use USB power. The USB stick is disposable. “Why do you need an instrument?” he says.

The meme set carried by the organism includes a mass of theories, some of which contradict each other. At the center of this mass is a nucleus of theories that are supposed to be believed (part of what Kuhn called a paradigm). Surrounding the nucleus are theories that are meant to be contrasted with the paradigm and rejected, together with memes about how to conduct the contrast; one might call this surrounding material the co-nucleus. While the organism thrives, the contrast with the co-nucleus strengthens belief in the nucleus, thus recruiting and retaining members of the organism’s scientific community. When the organism falters (the scientific community loses faith in the paradigm), eventually a new paradigm emerges, forming the nucleus of a new organism, while the new co-nucleus may contain both some nuclear and some co-nuclear material from the parent(s).