Announcement Re: “CAPTCHA”

420 words, ~1.5 minute read time. The accompanying short story is hyperlinked here.

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I have been reading an essay collection by E.B. White, and one quote has stuck with me: 

“I do feel a responsibility to society because of going into print: a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.”

I underwent a personal change while composing my latest story, a sci-fi/body horror titled “CAPTCHA,” now available on my website, millerwiller.com. I spent hours writing, editing, and living in a world in which a personal catastrophe is shepherded by the hubris of a man facilitating the unfettered proliferation of AI in society. I wrapped my story up, spanked it on the bottom, and went to use my handy AI art generator to create a fun little picture for my Instagram post, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The irony and feelings of hypocrisy were too great.

I used to justify using these tools by thinking, “Well, I’m not doing this for money; it’s just for fun.” But really, I believe AI art tools steal people’s talents to create a hollow copy of genuine art. As a writer who posts his work online, my words are being thrown into the maw of this beast, too.

I’m not saying all this to be a pedant or convince you of anything. This is just how I feel, but these pesky feelings leave me in a predicament since Instagram is a decidedly visual format. As much as I value how images can entice and engage the reader, I don’t want to outsource it right now. So, I’ve decided this post will serve as my farewell to Instagram and my introduction to Bluesky @millerwiller.bsky.social. It seems like a much better format to promote my work, and the owners don’t seem like total bastards yet, unlike a particular fascist enabling fuckhead cough Mark Zuckerberg cough.

I know this is a pretty long and melodramatic post to simply say that you’ll need a new app or subscribe to my website if you want to stay up to date on my stories. But, E.B. White also said, “Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays.” So there’s that.

So please, follow @millerwiller.bsky.social, read my new story at millerwiller.com, and remember that creating art is the most human thing we can do, so do it often and enthusiastically.