[a_e_k]

You said the key word already: trust. Trust is earned over time, whether between humans or between cats and humans.

Growing up, I had a lot of cats around the house and now with a family of my own we have a pair of kitties. In many years of living with cats this has never been a problem. Our kitties have learned that they can trust us humans to be respectful, to treat them well, and to take care of them, and in return we trust that they won't randomly attack us.

Also, despite being solitary hunters, cats are actually social animals. They will learn to give and take social cues. At worst when I've annoyed a cat, they'll typically express it first by a light swat with sheathed claws; that's signal enough for me that they want to be left alone till they get over it.

(In practice, though, my biggest problem with cats on the bed is overheating; I woke up this morning with my feet sandwiched between our two cats.)