There's a Twitter thread critiquing Progress Studies from a similar angle.
This reply in particular caught my eye:
https://twitter.com/WordsByBennett/status/115630161497577063...
It compares the proposed approach to WW2 Abraham Wald airplane bullet pattern analysis [1] and Survivor Bias.
[1] https://medium.com/@penguinpress/an-excerpt-from-how-not-to-...