That is exactly my point. Optionality is complex and causes a lot of bugs in applications (certainly in mine, I would say it's the #1 root cause of bugs).
Which is why I'd like spec to help me with managing it. It's not obvious, because whether certain data is required or optional depends on context. But from what I've heard, bright minds at Cognitect are thinking about it, and given their track record so far, I'm pretty confident I will like the solution.
You should be careful asking for this.
Both Protobufs and Cap'n Proto eventually decided that "optional" creates more grief that it saves.
It is also a bit of a religious flamewar.
Caution is advised.