The verbal detracts from the visual

and the visual detracts from the verbal

Only in rare cases do they harmonize. Usually one interrupts the other and the other interrupts the one

This is why I don't want to write alt text for my photographs. I have stopped writing books—for the reason that I don't want to tell stories anymore. Not in text outside my body. Not inside my head. I don't want to be involved in the process of telling stories (in my total life). I recognize that storytelling is one way to organize existence, and I don't want to do things that way anymore. This is a wide ranging personal, psychological, and philosophical decision

When I wrote books, I came to the conclusion that not only do I not want to judge a book by its cover—I don't even want my books to have covers. I used to show my books with covers—now I show them without. Why? Because the verbal detracts from the visual and the visual detracts from the verbal. If I present a cover, the cover will distract you from the book. They are almost always in competition—rarely in concert

When I take pictures, I want my experience to be as visual as possible. That is why, even though I am a writer (I certainly can write all the descriptive text I want) I do not want to write alt text for an image I took. Because that dilutes my process—the (hopefully as) pure (as possible) visual process I go through from buying the camera to pressing publish on social media. Yes, I can write alt text. No, I don't want to—not because I'm lazy or incapable, or because I do not care—but because not writing is part of the process I have designed for taking pictures. Having AI write alt text doesn't dilute my process, and it provides clear descriptions for people who want them—so I'll do that for now

The writer thinks about things. Describes them. Tells stories about them. The photographer looks at surfaces. Doesn't think. Doesn't judge. That's what I'm doing now