Even if my brain needs data to think, the data it needs would not be the thoughts, the thoughts and the data would never be the same. I would think about the data, but not the data itself.

In any case, what would cause my thoughts would not be the data by itself, because the data does not have a mind to think, but a combination of my mind and the data, therefore, the data would influence, but it would not determine my thoughts by itself. As the data that my mind receives changes all the time, and my mind is the only constant, my mind would be the main determinant of my thoughts, even when, indeed, the mind would not determine the thoughts on its own, but would do most of the work.

This in practice would be the equivalent of saying that humans thougths, feelings and actions are partly influenced by external conditions (the data), but mostly influenced (to the extent that determine it) by their minds.