Culture Convo | The Spiritual Responsibility of Software Creators | Julian Reeves

In this thought-provoking episode of Culture Raises Us, AI expert Julian Reeves challenges us to see software creators not just as coders, but as modern-day builders of culture and infrastructure. With billions of lives shaped daily by invisible lines of code, the responsibility of developers is nothing short of spiritual.

Julian reveals why most software today is built from fear, profit, or ego—and why only a small fraction is designed with true intention to transform lives. Together, we explore whether developers should take an oath like doctors, how past data from platforms like Facebook and Instagram proves we already know the dangers, and why the next generation of technologists must be trained both technically and spiritually.

From building apps with purpose (like his “Tinder for dog adoption”) to rethinking developers as cultural leaders, Julian calls for a radical shift: code should be planted like seeds, bearing fruit that heals, connects, and uplifts. This conversation is a roadmap for aligning innovation with values—and for building technology that honors God’s higher purpose.

#CultureRaisesUs #JulianReeves #SpiritualResponsibility #EthicalAI #TechWithPurpose #FaithAndTechnology #SoftwareCreators #AIWithIntention #BuildingCulture #CodeAndConscience #PurposeDrivenTech

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
When we talk about software creators, we're really talking about
modern day builders of culture and infrastructure. With that in mind,
what does it mean to approach this kind of work
with spiritual responsibility? In this conversation with Julian Reeves, the
AI expert, we're exploring what it means to build technology
that doesn't just work, but works in alignment with our

(00:23):
values and with God's purpose. Software shapes how I think
billions of us as people interact with the world, often invisibly.
Do you think most software creators recognize the level of
influence they carry.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, no, not even a little bit, a little bit
at all. I think they're all building. I think eighty
percent our building with just fear of poverty. So they're
just like, I just need to make money, so I'll
build whatever somebody tells me to build. And maybe nineteen
percent are building with negative intention of just like I
need to make money. I want to build and take over.

(00:58):
And then one person are building with intention I want
to change the world. I want to transform lives for
the better for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
So one percent is what you are identifying right now.
It makes me wonder, should there be like this moral
or spiritual north star that's guiding developers very similar to
how in the medical profession they take an oath.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yep, yeah, I feel like all software developers who go
down that track and need to take their own oath
to build something with intention, build something that, just like doctors,
have to have a positive impact and can't hurt people
because there are children using a lot of these there
are people who don't have the awareness of what they're doing,

(01:44):
what they're using, the software they're working with every day
can negatively harm their life.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
So but to that point, in the medical field, they
have an oath that they have to take, like, is
there something we can look at developing to make that
same thing for these developers because as to your point,
even a doctor they take a personal oath before they
go into it, right, they know that, look, I'm here
to say lives or I'm here to do whatever, and
then have to take this actual oath like that should

(02:11):
be something we should be looking at in this realm
because this is just as influential.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Absolutely absolutely, it should definitely be something if I understand
the power of what I'm doing, it has to basically
benefit the lies of others. It can't right others. Everything
I'm doing. I'm making sure I'm going the extra step
to regulate, to moderate, to make sure there are things
in place that can stop the bad things from happening.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, much of you know, software's impact is unintended, right,
and I think algorithms that amplify division, platforms that isolate
instead of connect How should developers anticipate and kind of
take responsibility for those unseen consequences?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
M do you ask that question again? So?

Speaker 1 (02:55):
I think when you look at a lot of these
software's impact is is very unintended, and so platforms that
are there to isolate instead of connecting and bringing people
together in a positive fashion, how should developers anticipate and
take responsibility for those unseen consequences?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, for sure, there's two sides of that. I mean one,
there's just so much of a past data set to
look at, you know, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest, all these
different social platforms have been already used for years. We
can see what it looks like for users to use
those and how to anticipate problems that could happen, anticipate
negative you know, anxiety, depression, things that could come from it,

(03:39):
and then build based on that and reverse it. There's
there's literally zero excuse for a developer to say I
didn't know this could happen or didn't would happen, because
just the same way they train their AI models on
past data, they can train their own morality on past
experiences of what happened too.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
So if we see software as not just code but culture, right,
how should like future generations of developers be formed both
technically and spiritually.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, there should be a training. The same way that
you need to train to become a software engineer, you
need to train to be a curator and a master
of culture. Need to understand the importance of your words,
your technology, you're building your software, the impact that it's
had on the past, the people before you who have
had an impact, because I think once you understand and
see the power of what you can do, you approach

(04:32):
it differently, and once you approach it with an independent
mind versus you know, like I was saying before, fear failure,
fear poverty, those things that make you think and drift
towards bad decisions. Once you have the understanding of culture,
you're a lot more cognizant of what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
I'm kind of surprised that doesn't exist.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, there's just not enough teachers, most likely to be honest,
that can step up and say I've studied culture, and
now I have a formula of how to train you
on it. Versus It's obviously much easier to do that
with software because it's already been in place.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well in every line of code. If every line, I
should say, if every line of code was a seed
planted in the soil and society, what kind of harvest
do you hope your work would leave behind? I would
think would be the question to.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Ask exactly exactly. I think so many people don't see
themselves as that powerful. They don't see themselves as having
this greater ability. They just see themselves as a Caggin machine.
They just see themselves as you know. I talk to
software developers all the time. They're not people who are
charismatic and understood, you know what I mean. There are

(05:43):
people who are people who are just maybe mathematicians or
people who just like solving small problems. They don't see
themselves as these like potential world leaders, these potential greater
than you know beings that are like really dictating what's
moving in culture, So they don't even understand the impact
they're having.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
And you said a word a couple times with each
example of just they just think. They just think, And
I think that's the work that needs to be done
of eliminating that and informing them or enlightening them on
that it's not a just you are way more and

(06:24):
there is a greater responsibility and in understanding you need
to have of the power that you had and what
you are infusing into culture. I don't think it's any different,
and it might not be the best example, but I
look at you know, athletes are the ones that you
are using as an example on the other side to say,
you know, they are the charismatical ones. They're the ones

(06:44):
that are out in front of every lichy, but there
are a bunch of people in the background that are
helping them to do what it is they do. I e.
An agent or like, it's no different, So how do
we help to get these developers in that set of
you were just as important as the end service in

(07:05):
the people that this is going to as you as
a person who's creating this in the background.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Exactly, I think AI will get us there because AI
is going to empower the developers to not be more
independent to build their own type of things for sure.
Like for me, for example, right now, one of the
biggest thing I'm focused on is building an app for
getting dogs adopted. It's like the tender for dog adoption,
where people can swipe and look at dogs to adopt
that would be in shelters and maybe get put down

(07:35):
that the right people didn't come. I could have, though,
you know, if I had a fear of poverty, if
I didn't have any spiritual alignment, it just been like,
I need to figure out how to make money super quick.
I mean, get a job somewhere, a meta or you know,
try to really get in there and just be a
cagging machine. And so AI enabled me to be able
to create this on my own as somebody who's probably
more new to software than some of these other people.

(07:57):
And so in addition to that, we also need to
get people team is behind them. The reason that athletes
are so prominent and able to understand the influence they
will is because they have a publicist, they have an agent,
et cetera. So the more that AI empower is the
indipndent software developer to be this larger life person, they'll
start to get teams around them. They'll start to get

(08:18):
a publicist, they'll start to get an agent, just because
they're so empowered now. So I think we's next five
to ten years to be honest.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Well, and I think a big part of that will
be individuals like yourself who are doing the work just
like you said, realizing you know your end goal, realizing
your morals and your values and your why and staying
true to those and not deviating based off of an
opportunity to make a ton of money or be on
the cover of a magazine or a publication highlighting you know,

(08:50):
the amount of money you've been able to make because
of this app You have an end goal and a
why and a reason that you were remaining firm on
and whatever comes outside of that is a bonus. And
for that, you know, as you talk about the scenario,
I say, you're gonna be one of the reasons to
help us get there. So you have to continue to

(09:11):
do the work that you're doing to be the example
so that that then becomes the thing that many follow.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Absolutely, it's great to hear from someone else to get
that reinforcement, for sure, because that's how I feel in
the daily and I'm just trying to have that guide
and be my compass.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Well, we're going to be here to support you on
those efforts because you were needed. Your mind is needed,
your thought and your example because remember, people don't know
what's possible, of what they can't what they don't see,
and so you have to break through the clutter in
the darkness because the only way light shows is in dark.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, they need the exposure, they need.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
The politics, They need a light. So be the light.
And I thank you always good having you on my.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Friend a thousand. It's amazing to be here, all right, bro,