This is clearly the fundamental flaw of any study that attempts to study the mind. You can't publicly observe thoughts. You can convince yourself that the mind

This is clearly the fundamental flaw of any study that attempts to study the mind. You can't publicly observe thoughts. You can convince yourself that the mind functions in a particular way because you may find yourself synced in with a group where it appears your own thoughts are reliable predictors for everything that are not your own thoughts, but this is clearly flawed. All (and obviously, I don't say this lightly) you have to do is ask yourself the question whether you have the ability to select a different thought. A single different thought to use as a ground. You can ask yourself that question for the rest of your life. Causality when it comes to mental events, while removing the ability to accept introspection as a valid means of reasoning. This is pure absurdity at it's finest hour.