In the book “Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception,” author Charles Seife defines “proofiness” as “the art of using bogus mathematical arguments to prove something that you know in your heart is true — even when it is not.” One tool used by masters of this art is fabricated statistics, which Seife calls Potemkin numbers.
In a recent video titled “What Gets PhRMA’s Chairman Up Every Morning?”, Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Sanofi, cited an impressive Potemkin number.
Find out what gets Viehbacher out of bed every morning and why it should actually keep him awake at night here (includes followup from PhRMA):
http://bit.ly/PhRMApotemkin
PMN1015-05
Issue: Vol. 10, No. 15
Publication date: 12 October 2011
