Among those who have been following the evolution/creationism “debate” for the past decade or two, the name “Paul Nelson” is one regarded with a sense of reverence and awe.
Dr. Nelson is a philosopher of science and a “senior fellow” with the creationist Discovery Institute. However, that by itself is not the reason for the air of mystique that surrounds him. In 2004 he presented a poster at a meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology in which he claimed to have developed a concept called “Ontogenic Depth”, a method by which the developmental complexity of an organism can be rigorously quantified. Supposedly, this would allow ID Creationists to demonstrate that the complexity of organisms that now exist could not have arisen except thru the actions of a “designer.” It promised to produce that rarest of things: An actually testable Intelligent Design hypothesis.
The problem was, the details regarding Ontogenic Depth were scant. PZ Myers, the developmental biologist and outspoken critic of ID Creationism, approached Nelson several times for details regarding how Ontogenic Depth could be calculated and, after much persistence on Myers’s part, Nelson finally promised that those details would be made available on April 7, 2004.
The promised details never materialized, which led to the official declaration of April 7 as Paul Nelson Day, an occasion marked by solemn reflection as well as raucous celebration with champagne and fireworks. Or, at the very least, with snarky posts on internet blogs.
April 7 is still a ways off, however, so why am I writing about this now? As it turns out, on the Peaceful Science forum we had been involved yesterday in a discussion regarding whether Intelligent Design Creationists ever formulate actual testable hypotheses, and guess who should show up. That’s right:
So it appears Dr. Nelson continues to insist that he has a hypothesis, which is his. However, after 15+ years it remains in a form too “inchoate” to be divulged to the eager and patient public.
Therefore, stock up on the champagne, order the fireworks, and make sure the waffle irons are ready! Paul Nelson Day is on for 2020, and probably for many more years to follow.