Oh, yes, very true! Programs in the present day would hardly ever get to interact with the User who wrote them– the vast majority of them are used by end-users who simply bought or downloaded them.

And I do wonder how that would affect their expression of faith.

We do see a little bit of this even in 82. Ram’s creator is present at Encom (not explicitly as his creator, but I’m sure it was intentional even at that stage, having him played by the same actor and being cubicle neighbors with Alan just as their programs are cellmates).

And yet Ram doesn’t ever talk about his User, really. He talks about the end-users that he helped, when he worked at the insurance company. Ram is an early example of software written to be sold and distributed, instead of to be used by its creator.

I think this manifests in Ram’s faith, in that he enacts what he believes to be the will of his creator by paying it forward and just simply helping others, in any and every way he can.

(of all the programs, I gotta admit I relate best to his faith. He’s the sweetest lil electric sheep and I love him so much)