When someone proposes a new algorithm, "this algorithm has never been used" doesn't sound to me like a valid critique. More substantively, Cuvier proposed similar outlandish-sounding algorithms tuned to recognizing animals by teeth and bone fragments, which have enjoyed widespread use ever since.

A small anecdote: one of Cuvier's students once dressed in a devil's costume and entered his room at night to scare him. Cuvier opened his eyes, said "Horns? Hooves? You can't eat me, you're a herbivore" and went back to sleep.