Lessons from Reggie James

Reggie James is the co-founder of Eternal, known for his work on "Spiritual Technology" and his distinctive perspective on culture and media.

On Technology and Culture

"Technology has a kind of preaching undertone that anything designed around us is conveying a message just not necessarily through words." [1]
"Every technical tool is trying to make you achieve a goal." [1]
"The legacy of Reggie James lies in his ability to merge culture with technology." [2]
"Through Eternal, he proved that social networking can be more than just communication—it can be an art form, a cultural movement, and a redefinition of identity." [2]
"His work has influenced both the fashion and tech industries, inspiring younger entrepreneurs to think creatively about the intersection of digital life and human expression." [2]
"Tech people don't know how to talk about themselves anymore. They sort of offload the talking to some of the worst people in the bunch." [3]
"There was a really big shift post you know Steve Jobs dying...Steve Jobs produced objects that you had to buy...you're setting a sort of Lifestyle." [3]
"The businesses that took hold after that...that were not B2B focused sort of live on the social media landscape which is essentially this thing is free that's all we really have to say." [3]
"Physical products and hardware still hold importance for branding and communicating a clear lifestyle/use case, unlike software companies that often neglect this aspect." [4]
"To defang a technology is actually to expand and bring the future forward to communities that might be on the lagging tail of that." [5]

On "Spiritual Technology"

"Spiritual technology is is concerned about reaching God through not as [a technology]." [6]
"If we look at current tech as like this sort of postmodernist lens one layer above that is just that it's broadly secular philosophies that guide all of these thoughts." [7]
"No one is really out there putting a vision together of like reform theological technology or like Cabala technology you know like no one no one is like doing that." [7]
"We all talk about like the meme of like the god-shaped hole in our heart but I my meme is like there's a god-shaped hole in our economy and all we've done is sort of like fill it with like the soul cycles of the world." [6]
"You you simply can't replace God in my opinion." [6]
"Oh open AI is just Sam's [Altman] quest to get a god that will respond to him...they're trying to reach God as a technology rather than reaching God through technology." [8]
"If AI equals omniscience that equals like our own lobotomy...if AI knows everything we're really just chopping off like the thinking portion of our brain in a really sort of like critical way." [1][8]
"This is much scarier than just like not having a job right? Like if the function of thinking is disassociated from me what does that leave me with." [8]
"The sin that the protagonist is most afraid of is certainty because certainty erodes the need for faith and faith is critical." [6]
"The rationalist SF technologists they're oriented around questions of certainty and truth and mechanizing those things...I personally believe that the world is far more mystical than that." [6]
"Spiritual hardware [are] tools that do more than solve practical problems and start to influence how we search for meaning." [9]

On "Why Mars Needs a Creative Director"

"Mars is the largest creative opportunity of our time." [10]
"Mars is the only image expansive enough to break us out of the saturation of the internet age, get us off apathy island, and offer design principles for Mars that might help us reimagine Earth." [11][12]
"Mars is an image. And we have to understand what an image does." [11]
"Mars is not the island. 'We're going to Mars' is the boat. It's a vehicle for thought. It's a vehicle for moving forward. It's not necessarily the destination." [11]
"The mirror was the final product. Mars offers us the biggest mirror we've had since the internet. It is truly total." [10]
"From Mars we can see all of us and everything. How our cultures move in and around each other. What is broken, and what will come with us whether we like it or not." [10]
"A crowd exists as long as it has an unattainable goal. The image is acquired and there is nowhere else to go." (Quoting Elias Canetti) [11]
"The return of ambition is the way out. This design challenge ahead of us that is Mars, can chart a multitude of competing images of the future." [10]
"Part of the reason why we did this talk is like there's one person that talks about Mars extensively and that's Elon." [12]

On Entrepreneurship and Creativity

"His work reflects a mix of bold innovation, cultural insight, and the courage to take risks in industries that often resist change." [2]
"Success in today's world is about more than building a company—it's about creating cultural value, connecting people, and leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire." [2]
"His journey shows that success comes with risks, challenges, and moments of doubt, but it also rewards those with vision and persistence." [2]
"I design through writing and it helps me sort of like filter out some of the things that I'm less excited to put further energy towards." [5]
"Joan Didion talks about like the reason why she writes is so that she can actually figure out what she thinks...I know that's super true for me." [5]
"Technologists have a fear, in my opinion, of standing on the merit of their ideas. In a landscape that prides itself on the virtues of iterating into success, it is a flaw of the culture." [10]
"If you win you win your performance becomes sort of your bread and butter." [3]
"A creative director...they summarize a broader culture...understands what that culture is about knows the key references and is able to summarize it for an outside market." [12]
"It's big Ecosystem vs. Egosystem." [11]
"I was inspired by many, many, many texts between me and Eugene–we're about to really dive into the future of creative directing Mars. What that means, why that's important, and why it's also extremely not a joke." [11]

On Identity and Society

"I'm not like really big on identity politics but I do think that some communities across all identities have really funky relationships to technology." [5]
"Identity politics is it's such a trap." [1]
"White black whatever if bread is $7 bread is $7 you know it does the price is not changing based off of my identity." [1]
"You can't be good for your age you have to be good period and I think the same is true for any sort of you know demographic title like you can't be good for being a woman you just have to be good." [1]
"Everyday social media just ask you who you are and that creates a crisis you're not supposed to be asked who you are every day that is actually not that is not healthy." [6]
"Information and sort of media wars or disinformation like this is a feature of postmodernism it's not a bug." [6]
"Apathy Island is the thing that when we think about what it means to be a Creative Technologist, it's what we have to break." [11]
"I just never believe that that style of identity politics really works towards any meaningful change." [1]
"A lot of it turned into in my opinion...a lot of it turned into sort of guilting people in positions of power." [1]
"The future's here is just not evenly distributed." (Citing William Gibson) [5]
"All immigration projects are ones of creative expansion. Religious. Economic. Philosophical. Sexual. Mars is no different. Even more, it is the most ethical. As it doesn't, from our current perception, include the displacement of natives." [10]

Sources and Links

Baukunst: Articles and transcripts from talks hosted by the creative technologist collective. [11][13]
YouTube: Various interviews and talks. [1][12]
Product Lost (Substack): Reggie James's personal newsletter. [10][14]
Forbes 30 Under 30: Profile for the 2021 list. [15][16]
Western Business: Profile on Reggie James. [2]
Interintellect: Salon event description. [9]
Medium: Article on a talk with Indie.vc. [4]
The New School: Event page for a talk with Luca Repola. [17]

Learn more:

Lessons from Reggie James

On Technology and Culture

On "Spiritual Technology"

On "Why Mars Needs a Creative Director"

On Entrepreneurship and Creativity

On Identity and Society

Sources and Links

Written by Antoine Buteau

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