The Slowak Syndrome
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Jan Slowak is a self-proclaimed “independent researcher”, a title which here should be understood in its purest sense: Independent not only from institutions, but also from peer review, experimental evidence, and, on occasion, logical consistency. Allegedly trained in mathematics and computer science, Slowak has embarked on a bold intellectual journey to demonstrate that one can study mathematics extensively while remaining entirely unmoved by its most basic habit: Deriving conclusions from premises.
Specializing in the critique of Special Relativity, Slowak approaches physics with a refreshing methodology: First decide that a theory must be wrong, and only then examine it through that lens. His work is particularly notable for treating well-established mathematical consequences as optional suggestions, and for regarding contradictions not as signals of error, but as invitations to redefine reality.
In his analysis of my paper about Einstein’s Cat, Slowak introduces readers to a world in which the outcome of a physical process need not be the same for all observers. That's right, in Slowak's universe, each observer lives in their own reality. In order to support his untenable claim, Slowak mentions the existence of “alternative frameworks” in which different clocks measure different times along the same worldline, unfortunately he forgot to give a single reference to any of them.
Find a copy of Slowak's peer-rejected (toilet) paper here.
It is worth noting that Slowak concluded his rag by stating that “Relativity is fundamentally wrong”, but failed to point out a single inconsistency in the theory or a single discrepancy with experiments.
You can find here my response to Slowak.
In another (peer-rejected) paper, Slowak made a spectacular fool of himself by exposing his ignorance of the fact that the twin paradox has never been a contradiction. The effect (using clocks instead of twins) was already discussed by Einstein himself in his 1905 paper, where he demonstrated that no contradiction arises.
But here comes Slowak who thinks he discovered a contradiction in the Theory of Relativity. Let us look at a screenshot of his rag:
The first thing to notice is the section's title, “The Thought Experiment”. It is ironic that Slowak argues using a thought experiment of his own — one that cannot be physically realized (cf. a spaceship traveling at 100,000 km/s) — in an attempt to prove his point, while in his critique of my paper, Einstein’s Cat, he rejects my thought experiment precisely on the grounds that it cannot be physically realized.
Next, it is worth noting that Slowak who, let us recall, claims a mathematical background, appears unable to distinguish between an experiment and a pair. He defines the two experiments E1 and E2 simply as the pairs (B0,B1) and (B0,B2). At no point are these experiments actually specified: No procedure, no protocol, no defined events. What is presented as an “experiment” is merely a pairing of individuals, leaving the reader with no clear description of what is supposed to be carried out or measured.
It is like saying “John is washing his car” and “Mark is buying stamps”, then asking the question “How does Jessica age?”, without having specified when John and Mark started their individual tasks, and when they completed them. Without any events defined, his question is completely meaningless.
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