Great discussion. I've been building in this space and think the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The real value isn't in "vibe coding" everything from scratch - it's in having the right architecture and patterns that AI can work within. That's why I built VCSK (Vibe Coding Starter Kit) - it gives you a solid NextJS foundation with proven patterns, then you can vibe code features on top of that foundation.

The difference is architectural discipline. When you start with proper auth, DB setup, deployment pipeline, and component structure, AI becomes incredibly productive for building features. When you ask AI to architect everything from scratch, you get the dead-end architectures you mentioned.

I still write the critical business logic by hand, still review every PR, and still understand the codebase deeply. But for UI components, API endpoints that follow established patterns, and data transformations? AI is genuinely faster than manual coding now.

The key insight: "vibe coding" isn't a replacement for engineering judgment - it's a force multiplier when you have the foundation right.