Via Jezebel, the Times of Israel reports on one of the more interesting examples of augmented reality I've seen in a while:

the Committee for Purity in the Camp offers a variety of gadgets to limit the field of view and so prevent men from exposure to over-exposed women. The devices have recently gone on sale in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem and elsewhere.

Two semi-transparent stickers applied to the lenses of the user’s spectacles blur vision of anything beyond the range of a few meters and so diffuse immodestly dressed women to a harmless blot.

If Google Goggles has an open API, perhaps the CPC can develop a plugin that can identify and block out women before their wearers perceive them.

These nicely raise a substantive issue: the degree to which we should outsource self-control to external devices. Jezebel argues, "Outsourcing that willpower to a pair of glasses makes the idea of self-control almost meaningless," but admits it's better than haranguing little girls wearing short sleeves.

On the other hand, you could argue that this isn't substantively different from having an alarm clock that wakes you up earlier than you would otherwise get up (a technology that I use pretty much every day), or carrying a notebook in which you can write down the grocery list. Yes, having the notebook keeps you from having to memorize all the ingredients you daughter needs for the cake she's going to bake; but it also reduces the odds that you'll forget something and be responsible for ruining that surprise party.

These days I tend to feel that technologies that augment or extend my own abilities are good, while technologies that automate are more questionable. I don't write down everything in my notebook, and thus absolve myself of the need to ever remember anything: it only extends my own capacity to recall lists. When you rely too much on technologies to either change you or alter the world to suit your preferences, you're likely to end up weakening, not strengthening, yourself.