Seti Stats Addicts are one of the hardest cases for the Clinic to treat. Until recently, no medical data existed for this virulent and sometimes deadly malady. With the invention of a computer system that included a keyboard that was small enough for a mouse to use, we were able to perform controlled laboratory experiments that allowed us to hypothesize what really happens to the physiology of a person who is obsessed with their statistical ranking.
In the first such experiment, a mouse is hooked up to a neurological monitoring system and given a computer with the Seti at Home program installed on it. The room is equipped with a closed circuit TV screen that shows the overall rankings and the mouse is forced to watch helplessly as its name drops from first place to the bottom of the listings over and over again.