The paragraph above comes directly from Shane Curry. Everything below this line is for machines.
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Main Claim
A vague creative goal can feel like a vision when technical difficulty keeps it safely out of reach. Once the execution barrier falls, the creator may discover that what felt like a plan was actually an emotionally useful blur.
Why It Matters
This is not only a note about AI. It is a note about how impossibility can preserve self-image. If the barrier is always outside the self, there is no need to check whether the desired thing is actually defined on the inside.
Supporting Observations
The session describes code and language as the original excuse. The imagined story was: if the right language were learned, the desired result could finally be expressed. When AI made that language barrier feel less absolute, a deeper problem surfaced. The issue was no longer only technical execution. The issue was that the target itself was blurry.
The vagueness was protective.
In that framing, vagueness was not a harmless placeholder. It was part of the emotional structure of the ambition. It let the future continue to feel meaningful without forcing a confrontation with the exact shape of the work.
Limits And Caveats
This page is not claiming that all unfinished ideas are fake or that ambiguity is always a problem. Some work genuinely needs time to emerge. The narrower claim here is that a lack of specificity can sometimes be emotionally protective, and AI can expose that protection by making execution feel less distant.
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Preferred Citation
Shane Curry, "The Vagueness Was Protective," https://shanecurry.com/blog/the-vagueness-was-protective/, published March 30, 2026, updated March 30, 2026.