Per Axbom

An old-school computer geek with a close eye on human rights, compassion and ethics in a networked world. I publish essays, guides, and graphics to help recognize, minimize and prevent harms in the tech sphere and beyond. And I highlight more good-hearted ways of working and acting.

Read more: https://hey.axbom.com

Mechanical heart valve ⚙️❤️

#fedi22 tfr #FediSverige

My Next Heartbeat: https://axbom.com/newsletter
Mitt nästa hjärtslag: https://axbom.se/nyhetsbrev

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Last Notes

2026-08-02 10:48:30 UTC

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Ett urval av bilderna från gårdagen. https://photography.axbom.com/s/axpride2026/

2026-07-11 10:16:25 UTC

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Yes, moving to Eurosky means you move your personal data there (to a server at Hetzner in Germany). So your follows/followers lists (and any blocks), your posts and your images/videos. This moves your data to EU jurisdiction.
You are still dependent on Bluesky for the infrastructure that Bluesky, the service, provides. So you use Bluesky with a Eurosky account. All indexing, search, and the aggregated view is still on Bluesky's infrastructure, not something Eurosky replaces. And moderation is of course in the hands of Bluesky.
You can log into mu.social (any Bluesky user can do that as well) with is the Eurosky client app, but which for now really just another view (frontend) of Bluesky’s app. Essentially a fork of the Bluesky client, still dependent on Bluesky to operate. The benefit is that it’s another part of the whole that is on EU ”soil”.
Note: I had no issues migrating from Bluesky to Eurosky but I do recommend getting a custom username/domain before doing the migration, which theoretically ensures mentions don’t get lost because of a changed username. A custom username can be moved across - which will be true of any future migrations as well.

2026-07-02 05:20:41 UTC

Labyrint-spelet fyller 80 i år. Jäklar vad många timmar av min barndom jag la på detta ändå.
www.lekoseum.se/kom-och-lek-med-oss-labyrintspelet-fyller-80-ar/

2026-06-25 07:17:17 UTC

Sometimes I'm struck by how deeply dehumanizing it is to liken machine function with the wonder of personhood.

2026-06-16 07:13:10 UTC

My 404 page. ❤️
https://akmedia.axbom.com/bea5abd8760cf23f467b0d61a15e79788fb01d99e8f8fb33ba15612b229db0de.jpeg

2026-06-10 20:46:26 UTC

Vänner, om en vecka är det midsommar. Jag plitar som bäst ner lite modernare texter till några av våra mest älskade melodier. Funkar såväl som snapsvisa som allsång, eller för all del även till dansen runt midsommarstången.
Jag hoppas hinna bygga på i tråden under hela veckan.
1.
En liten Kristersson
(Melodi: En sockerbagare)
En liten Kristersson här bor i staden
Han lajvar herrgård med hela klanen
De snuvar stora
De svindlar små
De skinnar alla, tills de blir blå

2026-06-09 13:11:02 UTC

Det är ändå otroligt häpnadsväckande det här reportaget... 🫣
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/BxypXQ/reportern-slapps-in-hos-kristersson-utan-sapokontroll

2026-06-05 06:27:58 UTC

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Då är rummet öppet.
https://vox.axbom.com/room/dmf003

2026-06-05 05:31:44 UTC

Högläsning om en timme :)
https://vox.axbom.com/room/dmf003

2026-05-27 20:59:38 UTC

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If I find myself having to add a bang for google you have my permission to lock me up and throw away the key.

2026-05-27 17:27:04 UTC

Lots of people are struggling to choose a search engine other than Google. I made a thing to encourage people to not only try many different global search engines with better privacy, but to also remind everyone to purposefully use site-specific engines. You'll want to check out the full list of !bangs.
I believe everyone should !bang more… That may or may not be a better tagline for this search box.
https://udo.se

2026-05-24 19:16:14 UTC

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Yandex is actually more tied to the Kremlin than most are aware.
https://www.zois-berlin.de/en/publications/zois-spotlight/the-sad-fate-of-yandex-from-independent-tech-startup-to-kremlin-propaganda-tool

2026-05-24 07:10:47 UTC

If you are considering the Kagi search engine, there are aspects you should be aware of from an ethics perspective.
https://khevans.com/2025/08/21/kagi-ethics.html
”A portion of your fee goes towards Yandex, indirectly funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vlad, the CEO, has stated that 2% of their total costs in 2024 goes towards Yandex. He has also stated that there is no intent of changing this.”
”At least other search engines like DuckDuckGo have halted their partnerships with Yandex. Kagi’s refusal to do so and Vlad’s firm support of Yandex is quite telling. If others have ceased partnering with Yandex, why can’t Vlad?”
”It’s worth mentioning that Kagi previously listed the sources they used in their search. It seems that they’ve now hidden that information on that page, seemingly contradictory to their “commitment to transparency.”
”A portion of your fee goes towards Elon Musk’s xAI, of X/Twitter, to support Grok in their AI assistant. Indeed, you can simply not use this assistant, however all paying users are effectively subsidizing the cost of the Grok API calls. There is no way to opt-out of this.”

2026-05-03 20:12:10 UTC

Idag använde jag mina krafter till att skriva om att älska en hund.
"Den sista april 2026 på morgonen fick hon somna in. Den 1 juni skulle hon ha blivit tio år. Hon har betytt obeskrivligt mycket för våra liv.”
"Hon har krävt en oerhörd närhet. Och vi har erbjudit den. Hon har sovit i vår säng, suttit i våra knän vid matbordet när vi spelat spel och umgåtts, legat på våra ben i soffan när vi arbetat och tittat på tv. Att lämna henne ensam har inte fungerat, så hon har helt enkelt följt med överallt.”
https://axbom.se/rusa/

2026-04-25 15:40:51 UTC

I believe the world needs more digital to analog converters. 🥰
https://akmedia.axbom.com/0ef7879b38419651f2efddfc6c6ca4391aa025d1a508a57a3cc15950e1613ebc.jpeg

2026-04-09 20:32:57 UTC

If you have Signal on an iPhone what you want to do is deactivate previews in your notifications. This essentially means you can still get notifications but you can't read the text inside the notification, you need to open Signal to read the message.
This setting is good advice for ALL NOTIFICATIONS. Without it people can read messages on your screen. And if you don't set Show Previews to “Never”, these messages apparently are stored in a freakin' database on the phone.
https://www.theverge.com/tech/909216/signal-messages-can-be-recovered-from-iphone-notifications
https://akmedia.axbom.com/febd3f73f47daadb66dce981c02064edbee1cc440fa43ea08eb8bf6c2552d555.jpeg

2026-03-19 06:15:55 UTC

Yesterday I asked about Pax Silica, because Sweden just signed it.
This morning I stumbled on this very long read, and just wow it hits so hard. Recommended.
"[Jacob] Helberg, the public face of [Pax Silica], is also worth a quick treatment. He’s a former Google policy staffer who married PayPal mafia member Keith Rabois at a ceremony officiated by Sam Altman—the CEO of OpenAI (the man whose $500 billion Stargate project is the single largest beneficiary of the Gulf capital Helberg’s initiative is designed to mobilize). From Google, Helberg moved to Palantir, the surveillance firm and military contractor founded by Peter Thiel, where he established himself as a technologist and China hawk in Trump’s orbit. As if that weren’t enough, he’s become something of a conduit between the American and French far right."
"That the kill chain runs on good ol’ American compute is key to all of this. To just focus on one head of the many-headed beast here, we can look at Google and Amazon. Their $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract doesn’t just provide Israel’s military and intelligence services with cloud infrastructure and machine learning tools—it contractually prohibits either company from pulling the plug for any reason whether it be human rights violations, humanitarian crisis, or genocide."
https://www.thetechbubble.info/p/how-much-a-dollar-cost (unfortunately hosted on Substack)

2026-03-17 21:40:49 UTC

I just watch La Bête (The Beast) with Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, . It was a lot, but I liked it. Will take some time to digest.
In a future where AI controls everything, humans are reduced to appendages of machines and their emotions are a threat. Some humans want to be entrusted with more rewarding jobs but this requires that they undergo reprogramming to suppress all those feelings, purge their DNA – a procedure that takes them through experiences from past lives.
The film thus blends 1910, 1914 and 2044. It’s a horrific love story and it engulfed me, even though I wasn’t set on watching it and chose it purely by chance. It’s impossible to describe what it’s like watching it.
Here is director Betrand Bonello’s words in an interview by Isaac Feldberg:
Interviewer: ”You shot the 1910 section on 35mm, which gives it this lively and sensual glow, and the other sections on digital, which is colder—and further restricted by the square format you adopt in 2044. In the future you envision, there’s this unsettling absence: of warmth, of texture, of sound. What kinds of choices were you making in creating this artificial tomorrow?”
Bonello: ”It was the most difficult thing to imagine. In 1910, you recreate. 2014, you recreate. 2044 was for us to invent, so we decided to take the world as it is today and to begin taking things away. We took away cars, screens, advertisements, relationships with others… We emptied everything out. We emptied the sound and made it fake. There are no more things you can relate to. There are no more textures. There is nothing you know.”
Full interview: https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/until-its-too-late-bertrand-bonello-on-the-beast

2026-03-11 07:36:10 UTC

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Upptäckte att detta företag finns. 🙃
https://akmedia.axbom.com/2e43abb979a710335f00037038524f08d8d9fe94c32d776b993bb863feccc38e.png

2026-03-02 20:19:38 UTC

New and free: Interactive playing cards for critical thinking.
Today it's exactly five years ago since I first published The Elements of Digital Ethics. I've received so much positive feedback on that chart. People from around the world, tutors and practitioners alike, have shared with me how they make use of the tool in their work and teaching.
So, on this 5-year anniversary, I decided to make it even easier for anyone to start using the elements in everyday work. I've made them into interactive playing cards on a website – and it's free to use for all.
You can visit cards.axbom.com and you'll find two sets of cards already there, The Elements of Digital Ethics and 13 Principles for Good Technology. Jump on over there if you want, but I do recommend first watching my quick video introducing the features of the website:
https://video.axbom.com/interactive-cards
Have a play around with the cards and let me know what you think. And later on, let me know how you get on with using them in a professional setting. ❤️
I'll be adding more card decks with time, and my friends in Sweden will be happy to know the same card decks are available in Swedish on kort.axbom.se

2026-02-03 16:38:56 UTC

Techbro stance: "Regulating AI is hindering innovation."
The purpose of regulation is to protect humans from harm, support wellbeing and promote societal sustainability.
So the techbro stance is "I can't invent new stuff if I can't fuck with people's lives and health."
Except that's not innovation, that's abuse.
Politicians and media really need to start understanding the difference.

2026-01-06 11:47:27 UTC

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💚

2026-01-01 16:14:31 UTC

Designade nya visitkort. Nu längtar jag bara efter att hålla dem i handen. Jag är lite gammeldags på det viset...
https://akmedia.axbom.com/11e8f41a8fcd0dfc150fe15c803c0e053ef7d7fa94af47894e0b999b72dc35f1.webp

2025-12-31 12:17:04 UTC

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År 2022 var det stökigt på föreningen Minds årsmöte när Thorbjörn Larsson inte valdes till ordförande.
"Det var i fredags som Dagens ETC berättade att prästen Thorbjörn Larsson hade nominerats till att bli ny ordförande för den ideella föreningen Mind. Ledare för valberedningen är Marita Bildt, syster till Ulf Kristerssons fru. Larsson blev nationellt känd i samband med att Moderaternas partiordförande fick hyra en billig och nyrenoverad paradvåning på Södermalm, öronmärkt för hotade kvinnor. Lägenheten ägs av Ersta Diakoni, en ideell förening som jobbar med utsatta människor, och Thorbjörn Larsson var då chef där."
https://www.etc.se/inrikes/personalens-uppror-stoppade-kristerssons-skandalpraest

2025-11-15 07:40:21 UTC

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🙌 Exakt. När jag skrev det här funderade jag på om det skulle vara idé att börja hålla kurser i att använda whiteboard:en.
”Den mest underskattade resursen på ditt kontor står redo att boosta verksamhetens kreativitet men ingen vågar sig nära. Det är dags att borsta bort spindelnäten. Jag visar hur du hela teamet kan gå från tom tavla till färgsprakande idéer!” 😅

2025-10-14 19:54:39 UTC

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Definitely. And this was discussed prior to my operation so I knew I would sooner or later be getting one of these devices. My operation was in August of last year (about 2 months after my 50th birthday). I’ve truly been so thankful for Sweden’s healthcare system.
When’s your op?

2025-09-26 07:56:41 UTC

Happy Petrov Day to those who celebrate. On September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov made the correct decision to not trust a computer.
The early warning system at command center Serpukhov-15, loudly alerting of a nuclear attack from the United States, was of course modern and up-to-date. Stanislav Petrov was in charge, working his second shift in place of a colleague who was ill.
Many officers facing the same situation would have called their superiors to alert them of the need for a counter-attack. Especially as fellow officers were shouting at him to retaliate quickly before it was too late. Petrov did not succumb.
I've attached a short clip from a reenactment of the situation in the documentary The Man Who Saved the World.
The computer was indeed wrong about the imminent attack and Petrov likely saved the world from nuclear disaster in those impossibly stressful minutes, by daring to wait for ground confirmation. For context one must also be aware that this was at a time when US-Soviet relations were extremely tense.
I've previously written about three lessons to take away from Petrov's actions:
1. Embrace multiple perspectives
The fact that it was not Stanislov Petrov's own choice to pursue an army career speaks to me of how important it is to welcome a broad range of experiences and perspectives. Petrov received an education as an engineer rather than a military man. He knew the unpredictability of machine behavior.
2. Look for multiple confirmation points
Stanislav Petrov understood what he was looking for. While he has admitted he could not be 100% sure the attack wasn't real, there were several factors he has mentioned that played into his decision:
- He had been told a US attack would be all-out. An attack with only 5 missiles did not make sense to him.
- Ground radar failed to pick up supporting evidence of an attack, even after minutes of waiting.
- The message passed too quickly through the 30 layers of verification he himself had devised.
On top of this: The launch detection system was new (and hence he did not fully trust it).
3. Reward exposure of faulty systems
If we keep praising our tools for their excellence and efficiency it's hard to later accept their defects. When shortcomings are found, this needs to be communicated just as clearly and widely as successes. Maintaining an illusion of perfect, neutral and flawless systems will keep people from questioning the systems when the systems need to be questioned.
We need to stop punishing when failure helps us understand something that can be improved.
https://akmedia.axbom.com/abf92742de62564d334a2903265f5024d03def1b59c475e8645819ea19cfa41d.mp4

2025-09-11 05:54:49 UTC

Såg en man på tunnelbanan som såg ut som Tage Danielsson(!) Fick tårar i ögonen, han var ett sån't jävla geni.

2025-06-19 19:26:47 UTC

DN avslöjade idag att Simona Mohamssons kalender ligger öppen och läsbar för vem som helst på internet. Men vad betyder det i form av säkerhetsrisker, och hur vet du om din kalender kan läsas av andra?
https://axbom.se/simona-mohamsson-och-hennes-oppna-kalender/

2025-06-05 07:53:21 UTC

Vi är en grupp människor som vill att fler röster ska höras när ny teknik påverkar samhället. Vi vill uppmärksamma att det finns fler vägval och riktningar än som normalt får utrymme i visionerna. Vi vill att fler perspektiv ska få synlighet. Och vi börjar med att säga hej, med ett remissvar. 👋
https://folketsai.se/remissvar/
#FolketsAI
Välkommen att läsa remissvaret från Folkets AI-kommission och se vilka stjärnor jag haft förmånen att samarbeta med: Fia Ewald, Jonna Steinrud, Maria Ottoson, Terese Raymond
Om du instämmer i våra observationer, perspektiv och resonemang finns möjligheten att skriva under med ditt eget namn. Det har många andra redan gjort.
Det här är startskottet. Nu vill vi bygga ett allt större nätverk. Dela gärna vidare remissvaret.

2025-05-13 17:06:41 UTC

I’m considering a music player so I can play music without being attached to my phone. Ideally something like the iPod nano. Are there any decent music players on the market today or is my best bet to actually try and find an old iPod nano?
I’m really nostalgic for the original Sony Walkman… Apparently there is a Sony Walkman player on the market today for almost 4,000 dollars. 🤪

2025-05-13 13:33:34 UTC

It’s mindblowing to me how many support bots are being implemented to save time for suppot staff on “simpler issues”, instead of improving the interface and interactions in ways that remove the need to ask those simpler questions.

2024-11-22 10:03:44 UTC

What specifically happens if I close a Fediverse server and start a new Fediverse server with the same domain name, and I create the same handle as I had before.
I expect this to fail, but in what ways would it fail? Or would it actually work? I just don’t know. 😅 (besides losing all posts, but that always happens when moving servers on the Fediverse)