Title says it all really.
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There’s a logical fallacy called the post hoc fallacy. It is, if event B happened after event A, then A must have caused B. This is the basis for a lot of superstitions. It’s what’s behind most ideas that some things are good luck and other things are bad luck. We see this kind of thinking in lots of different cultures, so it’s probably something humans are wired up to think. Exactly what is considered to bring good luck and what brings bad luck varies between cultures, but the basic idea is there in a lot of different ones.
A lot of medieval cures probably “worked” this way. It’s how faith healing and (at least some of) alternative medicine work, and there are people who believe in those things now.
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