Once upon a time, passports didn’t exist, the world was open to all (although you might have been restricted from entering castles).

With time society has become more careful about who can do what and where. Remember needing a Photo ID to rent a VHS video or get a library card?

More and more your access to some place requires permission. I need to swipe a card to take the elevator to my workplace, and swipe a fob to enter my 24/7 gym.

For almost everything useful online I need to register. Current debates about a misconstrued “freedom of speech” will likely lead to platforms that require an ID verification.

Older kids are (thankfully) being taught that when it comes to sex, permission needs to be explicit, not implied.

Key to my idea here is workplace flirting. It seems to me that it is a very subjective realm, what is OK or not. For example commenting on someone’s appearance can fit into a variety of spectrums, from mentioning the color of the clothing, to the brand (hey, I like XYX too!), to “damn girl, how did you snag that?”, to “is that a new harido, it suits you”, to “you are looking great”, to things clearly crude…

Once everyone is hooked into an Augmented Reality system, I can imagine that permissions can be assigned in the real world, just like you can choose who sees what in Facebook.

So when I glance at Brian in the typing pool, a message could pop-up saying “if you even mention my physique, HR will know in milliseconds”, or it could say “flatter me, I like to be talked about”. Clearly a scale of appropriateness is needed. Said AR system will of course record all conversations. And maybe monitor where your eyes go when looking at someone.

Clothes could come with built in permissions – the wearer wants you to stare lustfully. Or maybe your AR specs blur out things when you look at someone

AND…

Autistic people (etc, just for an example) could have it so when being served in a store, the AR glasses indicate that you would prefer not being asked if you need help.

Taxi divers can be informed that you dislike chit-chat.