Thanks for the thoughts! Fun to read and think about.

In response to your question, "Why do you think we need to posit something extra?" I guess I have two quick responses.

(1) Vibe is short for vibration. And vibration implies some energy or frequency moving through space between two or more points. Hence, I understand the vibe as an actual phenomenon moving from and to, or between, bodies (or from one body to the next).

(2) Just as sight and sound are distinct sensory perceptions, so too is the vibe. Sight and sound (and the other physical senses) overlap and intertwine, but each is distinct. In terms of human experience, there are multiple modes or registers of experience. The psyche, our emotions, subconscious and conscious, the imagination, logical thought, the creative/artistic, etc. The vibe, too, is its own mode or register of experience. If we lump it all together as one thing, then it becomes hard to understand how each works. If everything is "the vibe," then the vibe is no-thing (nothing).