Both of those issues: 1) slowing down the DNA, and 2) finding enough change in current to be able to distinguish bases, did not seem that they could work out. Y

Both of those issues: 1) slowing down the DNA, and 2) finding enough change in current to be able to distinguish bases, did not seem that they could work out. You really have to solve the first before you know if the second is solvable, but getting tiny molecules to behave as they flit through protein pores is not a trivial task, particularly around ~2000. The signal processing is still quite significant, and I hear that if you don't have a compute box that's set up correctly, you can't get data to and from the GPU quickly enough for base calling (no personal experience, just heard friends griping about early experiences). So even with todays compite tech, the signal processing is pretty heavy duty, 2000 era hardware and algorithms would have far far less accuracy. Which is all to say that yes, now it works, and my uncertainty was perhaps unwarranted. I'm super impressed that it works, and I've learned a ton of humility about guessing what other people can figure out how to do. David Deamer is a visionary, and all the people that worked so hard on it afterwards deserve major kudos.