A goofy example, but I suspect that the aliens in the Independence Day film lived in such a world; their system didn't seem to have too much security - and why would you need any, in a telepathic society?
That brings up an interesting hypothetical... Is it possible to have a password that you don't even know? Sure biometrics is one method, but are there any password schemes that work on things like word associations or unconscious behaviors found during the typing process, like statistical analysis of the time between key presses?
I remember doing an online course and they had me type several paragraphs in order to determine my typing "signature" but it seems doubtful to me that it would be precise enough to be used for authentication.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/515726/a-password-so-secr...
Certainly, that's why the "forget password" link is so common ;)
Trying to recall a password that I commited only to muscle memory is damn near impossible without some kind of keyboard in front of me.
(edit: in fact, I went ahead and posted the question: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/4x7yin/i...)
Seemingly, yes, according to https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity12/technical... , which has a paper I read a while ago and a video I never got around to watching.
Abstract:
Cryptographic systems often rely on the secrecy of cryptographic keys given to users. Many schemes, however, cannot resist coercion attacks where the user is forcibly asked by an attacker to reveal the key. These attacks, known as rubber hose cryptanalysis, are often the easiest way to defeat cryptography. We present a defense against coercion attacks using the concept of implicit learning from cognitive psychology. Implicit learning refers to learning of patterns without any conscious knowledge of the learned pattern. We use a carefully crafted computer game to plant a secret password in the participant’s brain without the participant having any conscious knowledge of the trained password. While the planted secret can be used for authentication, the participant cannot be coerced into revealing it since he or she has no conscious knowledge of it. We performed a number of user studies using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to verify that participants can successfully re-authenticate over time and that they are unable to reconstruct or even recognize short fragments of the planted secret.