ArchiveMay 2026

The Illusion of Competence: Why “Vibe Coding” Is a Trap (And How to Actually Build with AI)

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There’s a term in educational psychology called the Illusion of Competence. It describes what happens when exposure to information gets mistaken for mastery of it. You watch a clear explanation, you nod along, you feel like you understand, until you try to apply it yourself and realize the understanding was never yours. The current wave of vibe coding is producing this illusion at...