Nobody would have imagined that behind the eye-catching, heart-shaped frame holding those dark lenses there stood a revolutionary theory about measuring the grade of emotional affinity between people. Nor would they have figured the countless hours of arduous experimentation; but, according to what Dr. Masterton had told us, innumerable journals and four years of exhaustive research had been necessary before such a light prototype was achieved.

It seems appropriate to give a brief overview so that the reader might get an idea about how such cutting edge technology, fruit of the invention of one of the most brilliant minds on the planet, that of Professor Moses Masterton, had come about.

In September 1995, volume 67, number 11 of Applied Physics Letters—pages 1582-1586—there appeared an article entitled “The Photoacoustic Effect in the Analysis of the Thermal Properties of Living Organisms,” by Jonas Masterton and Kevin Wolff. The abstract gave a concise explanation of the so-called photoacoustic effect: “When a beam of pulsating light is directed on a solid or semi-solid body in a closed chamber, changes in air pressure are created within the chamber; this is due to the variations in the material’s temperature as it releases the energy that it initially absorbed in the form of light. The changes in pressure give rise to an acoustic signal: the photoacoustic effect.”

The article went on to mention one of the applications of the effect in question: “The photoacoustic effect is the basis for a spectroscopic technique—a technique that uses different types of light—that facilitates the study of solid and semi-solid matter: “the photoacoustic.” The photoacoustic signal depends on the optical, thermal, and geometrical parameters of the sample; that is, it yields information with respect to such properties.”

Masterton and Wolff’s article discussed spectroscopic techniques for measuring the thermal properties of the organs of live animals—mice—based in part on the “Theory of Photoacoustic Effect” developed in 1975 by Allan Rosencwaig and Allen Gersho of Bell Laboratories.

Our article went almost unnoticed—Dr. Masterton was to inform us later, during one of our sessions. In fact, it was too boring, he lamented. But the residual effects of light incidence…That was what really interested me! he was quick to clarify, brimming with enthusiasm.

By “residual effects” Jonas Masterton referred to the notable changes in a mouse’s behavior once it had been exposed to various kinds of pulsating light. His then research partner, Dr. Kevin Wolff, apparently had not foreseen the possible consequences of such effects; satisfied with the publication of the results of his work, he returned to his peaceful professorship in Biophysics at Cambridge University, England.

However, for a scientist like Moses Masterton—restless, impulsive, and very inclined to obey the dictates of intuition—to stop researching after having discovered the residual effects of light exposure would be as clever as not cashing a blank check.

During the entire year of 1996, the inquisitive scientist continued the investigation—among many others—by himself. By December of that same year, his findings took him much further than the mere photoacoustic and the so-called residual effects. Now he was experimenting with mice, rats, and cats, and, instead of using lasers as a light source he used natural resources; that is, other members of the respective group of animals. On being asked what exactly did he mean by natural resources, the doctor responded, very satisfied, almost laughingly, and as if admiring his own genius: any living organism emits light, but it is an infra-red light, invisible to the human eye… And then he immediately clarified: any given object with barely even a degree of temperature emits infra-red light. Naturally, infra-red light is much less energetic than visible light.

Basically, what the doctor did was analyze one individual’s behavior in the presence of another. Both functioned in turn as sources of infra-red light. In other words, the doctor measured the emotional response of one individual before the energetic stimulus of another. He had devised the sensors for such complicated measurements with the help of his friends at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the famous M.I.T.

Motivated by his novel discoveries, the doctor started to experiment with other types of energy transmission—energetic stimulators—such as infra-sound, audible sound, heat, and electromagnetic waves of various frequencies, among others. His excitement made him hasten to comment on his marvelous observations: An animal! A warm-blooded animal is a source of diverse forms of energy!

And to be sure, not much time was to pass before the talented man of science was to ascertain that in predetermined groups of rodents, as with felines, there were subjects that seemed to behave in a certain peculiar manner in the presence of others. They had more similarities among them, they “got along better.” This social conduct could be observed even in mixed pairs of cats and mice. Smell was not crucial—as it once was considered—it was just yet another parameter.

The singular results of Jonas Masterton’s research were presented at the “Fifth Symposium on Photosensitivity and Biomedical Applications of Dielectric Materials,” which took place at the University of Illinois in March, 1997. His Animal Resonance Theory explained the results obtained in detail. According to the innovative theory, affinity among subjects—mice, rats, and cats—originated with the resonance phenomenon.^[1] Besides this, it affirmed that certain cells dispersed in an animal’s body were the most sensitive receptors among the different energetic stimuli.

The resonance phenomenon is manifested in various forms—explained the doctor. Observe what happens when you pluck a guitar string. The sound produced causes another string, tuned to that same note, to start to vibrate without even being touched. Another common example is the tuning of radio stations and television channels. When the oscillation frequency of the circuit is adjusted to the same frequency of the electromagnetic wave that reaches the antenna, resonance occurs, and the station or channel becomes tunned.

The conclusions presented by Dr. Masterton supported the idea that resonance—the mutual gain of energy—was responsible for like between the subjects of his experiments. And the lack of affinity, or dislike, was caused by dissonance, or the mutual attenuation of energy, which occurred when the frequencies of the source and the receptor did not coincide, which assumed a destructive superposition of frequencies.

Although almost the whole of the public in attendance labeled the hypotheses of Moses Masterton as “daring,” categorizing him as a speculator—even according to him, he would speak of the subject as he would an amusing anecdote—he ended up winning his audience over by finishing the presentation with the following sentence: It’s not chemistry that controls all…it’s physics!

The audience broke into applause and even cheered, he laughed. After a silent pause, he added, more seriously: All of them were physicists.

It was during this symposium that the researcher Barry Starks, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, suggested to Moses Masterton that he put together all of the sensors that he had developed for his experiments on a computer, which could be used as if it were an article of clothing—for a couple of years it had been possible to “wear” computers as if they were accessories, and they were in fashion in the select circles of technological innovation. With such an instrument it would be easy to apply his animal resonance theory to humans.

As soon as the conference ended, in the early hours of the morning, Dr. Masterton whisked Barry away to the laboratory, and there they started to work on the design of the computer. It must be remembered that Moses Masterton had the personality of someone who was extremely impulsive.

Towards the end of 1997, the impetuous scientist already had his first prototype. However, he was not entirely satisfied: I should have made certain improvements…people crossed the street in order to avoid me. The only people that came up to me were the police, and in that case it was me that decided to cross the street…the doctor told us, pensively.

The ambitious project caught the attention of DBN Technologies.^[2] After two years of close collaboration with the technology company, the first feather-light prototype was achieved. It weighed three ounces.

Since June, the doctor had worked in The Garage making the last adjustments to the I.K.Y. The range of applications of the I.K.Y. is formidable. It can be used in police work, in personnel recruitment, in teaching, in the treatment of psychiatric patients, in vendor-client relations and…who knows in how many other areas! he commented, satisfied.

And now, on August 2, 1999, on the brink of that enormous wealth of knowledge and astounding technological innovation, there was…me. By sheer luck, I was on the verge of becoming the first customer of the I.K.Y. I needed it to help me out with a psychiatric case: make the woman that I was crazy about fall in love with me…

[1] Condition by which an oscillating force is able to transmit great quantities of energy to a given body, inducing a movement of great amplitude in the absorption regions of the energy of that same body.

Resonance is only possible when a force’s frequency coincides with the natural frequency of an object; that is, the frequency required to make the object oscillate.

[2] Company that designs computers to be used as part of our surroundings, taking in information at the same time as they interact with people and objects.

Next Chapter: Saved by the Bell