In the movie There Will Be Blood a stranger shows up to Daniel Plainview's doorstep pretending to be his half-brother. The stranger relates some story about their childhood together and that's enough to convince Plainview of the stranger's identity(which isn't his actual identity) and relation(half-brother) to Plainview. It's false of course, and Daniel isn't happy when he finds out. But it's interesting comment on the times they lived in. There was no LinkedIn or FB or even a Driver's License for that matter to verify someone was who they said they were.
Regardless, I really don't know how you actually identify someone. Likely, as you say, physically being present(retina scan, fingerprinting, both?). You raise an interesting philosophical question; that is, what is identity?
>Regardless, I really don't know how you actually identify someone. Likely, as you say, physically being present(retina scan, fingerprinting, both?). You raise an interesting philosophical question; that is, what is identity?
It's not really a philosophical question being raised. The question of identity is always, "Is the person trying to authenticate the same person as someone with whom I have some relationship?" Online, you set up a username and password, and the presumption is that any person with that username and password is the same person who set up the account. If you want to prove your "real" identity, you're basically doing the same thing, but you're instead trying to prove that you're the same person as the one who was awarded your driver's license, or the same person whose birth is certified by your birth certificate.
Regardless, I really don't know how you actually identify someone. Likely, as you say, physically being present(retina scan, fingerprinting, both?). You raise an interesting philosophical question; that is, what is identity?