Final answer:
The article connects house pets and humans by exploring evolutionary, cultural, and emotional aspects of their relationships across history, including the symbiotic alliance humans and dogs had which benefited human survival, the culturally variable treatment of pets, and the significance of animals in human belief systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
The connection drawn between house pets and humans in the article regarding Elon Musk's Neuralink plans is multi-faceted, exploring the evolution of the human-animal relationship through historical, sociological, and cultural lenses. Anthropological research by Pat Shipman suggests that empathy and alliances with animals, particularly dogs, provided humans with an evolutionary advantage, which is echoed in the development of tools and empathic understandings signified by cave paintings and archaeological evidence. Additionally, the extraction from Yi-Fu Tuan highlights the complex and historically varying human dominance and affection towards pets, emphasizing that while pets have become a staple of Western sentimentalism, the relationships with animals can also entail cruelty.
Furthermore, the article indicates that animals hold significant roles within human belief systems, as noted by English art critic John Berger, and are embedded in our cultural and religious consciousness. The inclusion of more grim historical context, such as the unethical actions towards animals during the Nazi era, highlights how human-animal relationships are intertwined with our sense of self and morality. Finally, the contemporary example of Koko, the gorilla who cared for a kitten, illustrates that the propensity to form interspecies bonds may not be uniquely human, widening the scope of how we understand pet keeping and cross-species interactions.