What makes an animal an appealing pet? One requirement is a face that seems ‘human’. Cats, dogs and other popular pets have faces reminiscent of human infants, and trigger protective emotions in us. They also convey emotions by signals which we ourselves recognize. Daedalus now points out that the converse is also true. Good pets must be able to react to us, and to interpret our expressions and behaviour correctly. This is a severe restriction. A grasshopper (say), even one with human intelligence, could never tame a cat; the cat could never interpret the grasshopper's signals as those of a fellow creature.

So DREADCO technicians have devised a set of radio-controlled ‘pet-loving robots’ with various facial, ocular and vocal abilities. Each robot, guided by its unseen controller, attempts to feed, stroke, talk to and exchange friendly behaviour with an initially naive cat, dog or other animal. Those robots which succeed in making a pet of their animal will reveal the emotional signals recognized by that animal. In particular, they may prove a thesis Daedalus has held for some time. Our animal-taming abilities are severely limited by the immobility of our ears.

Cats, dogs, horses, rodents and many other creatures can swivel or shape their ears in different ways. We interpret these movements, instinctively and correctly, in emotional terms. Flattened or backwards-pointing ears suggest aggression or distress; upright and forward-pointing ones show interest and friendliness. Pet animals must be greatly discouraged by the absence of such signals from ourselves.

So Daedalus is also experimenting with a special skull-cap equipped with large electromagnetically adjustable ‘ears’. A handset allows the wearer to switch them to whatever emotion he wishes to convey. With luck, the cap will enable its wearer to reach an emotional closeness with any animal that also uses ear signals.

DREADCO's ear-cap, together with any further prostheses indicated by the robot program, will transform our relations with ear-signalling animals. The most unruly dogs, aloof cats, treacherous goats and indifferent gerbils will at last respond to human affection. The acid test will be the utterly untameable Highland wild cat, reputed to hate everything and everybody on sight. If the cap can reduce this furious beast to a purring fireside moggy, a new lawn in the Garden of Eden will indeed have been opened.