Many use cases come to mind. If (retinal?) identities were private, encrypted, and “anonymized” in handshake:

web browsing without captchas, anubis, bot tests, etc. (“human only” internet, maybe like Berners-Lee’s “semantic web” idea [1][2])

Non “anonymized”:

non-jury court and arbitration appearances (with expansion of judges to clear backlogs [3])

medical checkups and social care (eg neurocognitive checkups for elderly, social services checkins esp. children, checkins for depressed or isolated needing offwork social interactions, etc.)

bureaucratic appointments (customer service by humans, DMV, building permits, licenses, etc.)

web browsing for routine tasks without logins (banks, email, etc)

[1] <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/06/tim-berners-le...> [2] <https://newtfire.org/courses/introDH/BrnrsLeeIntrnt-Lucas-Nw...> [3] <https://nysfocus.com/2025/05/30/uncap-justice-act-new-york-c...>

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dangus a day ago | parent [-]

Let’s run down your use cases:

Human-only Internet: why choose this implementation over something simpler? Surely there’s a simpler way to prove you’re human that doesn’t involve 3D avatar construction on a head-worn display that screws up your hair and makeup. [1] E.g., an Apple Watch-like device can verify you have a real pulse and oxygen in your blood.

Court: solution is already in place, which is showing up to a physical courtroom. Clearing backlogs can be done without a technological solution, it’s more of a process and staffing problem. Moving the judges from a court to a home office doesn’t magically make them clear cases faster.

Medical checkups: phone selfie camera

Bureaucratic appointments: solution in place, physical building, or many of these offer virtual appointments already over a webcam.

Web browsing without logins: passkeys, FaceID, fingerprint

[1] yet another male-designed tech bro product that never considered the concerns of the majority of the population.

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atcon 18 hours ago | parent [-]

You raise fair points. I'd also prefer a simpler solution for a human-only internet, but nothing has really worked so far. Bloomberg issued secure cards with fingerprint pads that you held up to the monitor to retrieve credentials to their system, so maybe a simpler physical authenticator could work at scale. I'm not sure how secure a pulsometer would be, but hacking an apple headset chip and retinal pattern seem harder.

Court: disagree in part. More judges are needed to address the severe backlogs, but as an example NYS judges oppose expansion (see [3] from previous post). A lot of calendar time is spent appearing before judges around a city (they're not all in one area) for motion hearings and the like despite all documents being electronically submitted. Also, there are frequent reschedulings when one party can't physically appear. Some state judges allow teleconference, but a lot don't. Appellate and federal courts rarely.

Checkups and social services: some secure way of monitoring client interactions and outcomes is needed. In Los Angeles, the homeless services agency has been criticized by a federal judge for incompetence [1] and more than half of the child-prostitutes in a notorious corridor were found to be "missing" from the foster system [2]. Maybe headsets are not the best answer, but govt agencies and social service NGOs need to record evidence of their efforts for accountability.

[1] <https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-31/los-ange...> [2] <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/magazine/sex-trafficking-...>

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