BRAINSTORMING ISN'T PROOF, BUT IT'S AMAZING HOW MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT IT IS
Brainstorming without proceeding to apply logic and evidence is like getting lost in an internal tornado with no let up and no exit signs. People who let ideology, wishful thinking, fear and subconscious associations get in their way believe that if they can imagine that someone could be doing something nefarious, then they are. "Evidence" in their view is whatever backs up whatever they imagined; they discard the rest.
To actually find reality, we each need to get our heads outside our echo chambers and rigorously test our guesses. Granted, brainstorming -- throwing out inhibition and blurting out or scribbling down whatever images and ideas pop up -- is an important skill. In brainstorming, if the question is "How can humanity get into outer space?", then the answers "Stand on a rabbit", "Phone the Man in the Moon" and "Build an elevator" are just as acceptable as "Build rocket ships".
Once you let go of what you assume elevators look like, there is in fact a way to build an elevator into outer space. That's not something that would have occurred to anyone who could not let go of logic and blue sky an answer.
Yet free association is only the first stage of forming a coherent thought.
Brainstorming for "the cause of summer", someone might blurt "eating ice cream" because in his head ice cream reminds him of ice which reminds him of cold which reminds him of heat. The fact that one thing reminds him of another or does not prove that it is even related except in his head. It is sheer accident when associative thinking approaches the reality of a situation.
@Rodfather recently erupted at a guy who had loudly taken first one side then the other in a zero sum conflict between some trolls and Minds. Both times, the guy treated whatever he could imagine as being proven. Rodefather retorted, "You say, 1)'my issue', '2) I think', '3) also like to know', 4) 'it's our job'. Then, (my favorite from your soliloquy) 5) 'Why are you here?'
"a) it's not
"b) don't
"c) irrelevant
"d) no, it isn't ...
"e) Which goes my point; Why are you sowing discord & perpetuating confusion if Minds is so terrible? Why is it worth it?"
Granted, telling the guy not to think because he seemed to be so bad at it was an over-the-top flourish. Many of us though share @rodfather's exasperation. Actually proving something is a straight-line process of viewing all evidence, pro and cons, with hard documentation that is independently assessed by lots of people who are more concerned with finding out what's right than with being right. To find what is, we each need to let go of our agendas and rigorously test our guesses outside our echo chambers....
[Banner illustration: https://www.gtaall.com/gta-5/mods/78005-tornado-script-11.html]