History Main / LivingProgram

** {{Deconstructed}} with the SequelInAnotherMedium, AlternateContinuity of ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh]]: Ghost in the Machine.'' Jethro Bradley is shown to be so horrified by the implications of playing god over the lives of the Programs that he has a full on moral and mental health crisis, refusing to even touch computers once he returns to the analog world. It probably didn't help that his fight during the game was against greedy, corrupt humans who actively sought to be gods over the Programs and rule the analog and digital worlds through control of the world's computer systems.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Franchise/{{Tron}}'':

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ignis_2_7.png]]]]

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', virtuals outnumber embodied sophonts by somewhere between 2 and 4 orders of magnitude; it's impossible to tell exactly how much, as their servers can be hidden pretty easily.

** ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'', the adaptation of the above, has Cybervillains Blaze and Roxy, who are digital duplicates of the real Blaze and Roxy, whose negative traits are emphasized in the avatars, and have all their memories. Once killed in the endgame arc of the first season, their AIs are revived in robot bodies. As avatars, they sometimes glitch in and out, subtly reminding the audience that they aren't human.

** [=NetNavis=] are virtual AIs utilized by people to perform various tasks, with each of them having their own unique personalities and abilities. Special mention goes to Rush, who in the anime is capable of freely travelling from the virtual world to the real world and vice-versa.

->'''Tron''': If you are a User, then everything you've done has been according to a plan.\\
'''Kevin Flynn''': Ha! You wish! Well, you know what it was like. You just keep doin' what it looks like what you're supposed to be doin', no matter how crazy it seems.\\
'''Tron''': Well, that's the way it is for programs, yes.\\
'''Kevin Flynn''': I hate to disappoint you, pal, but most of the time, that's the way it is for Users too.\\
'''Tron''': Stranger and stranger.

Compare DigitalAvatar, DigitizedHacker. Contrast MechanicalLifeforms. They're most likely to be found InsideAComputerSystem. Subtrope of AnthropomorphicPersonification.

* In the sixth ''Manga/CaseClosed'' NonSerialMovie ''Anime/DetectiveConanFilm06ThePhantomOfBakerStreet'', [[ChildProdigy Hiroki Sawada]] [[BrainUploading coded himself as an artificial intelligence program]] "Noah's Ark" and released it to the cyberspace before [[StartsWithASuicide killing himself]]. The main story is about Noah's Ark invading into a [[HolodeckMalfunction public preview event of a new VR gaming system]]. While Noah's Ark, for most of the movie, took over the identity and appearance of one of the event's participants, at the end it does show up as itself, or Hiroki in AI form.

** The residents of the virtual planet Digitalis are all self-aware [=NPCs=] from a VirtualReality MMORPG, which used the planet as its server until the characters GrewBeyondTheirProgramming and formed a self-sustaining society. These digital people are virtually indistinguishable from normal humans, apart from slipping into old pre-programmed habits and dissolving into clusters of code when they're killed.

* ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'' involves virtual beings called EL-Divers, who populate the VirtualReality MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame called Gundam Battle Nexus. [[spoiler:It's revealed in ''[[Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise Re:RISE]]'' that the EL-Divers are in fact the reincarnation of an ancient race of human-like aliens who [[BrainUploading turned themselves into data]] to find a new home after the old one got destroyed.]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' foe Trinity is a living computer virus created by the Atlanteans a millennium ago.

* All the characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' are living smartphone apps.

* ''Franchise/{{Tron}}'': Programs are living human-like constructs living out their own lives in a society originating in a computer world. They refer to human beings as "Users", bear some resemblance to their human creators, and seem to take the best and worst parts of them.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': A very interesting version in the season 2 episode "Be Right Back": a young man dies in an accident, and his grieving girlfriend is convinced to try out an internet service that uses his online data (social media, search history, contacts, etc) to create a digital copy of him for her to interact with. Eventually the service is able to provide her with a blank android body to download the copy into, which she almost instantly regrets doing because the copy can't replicate his emotional responses.
** The later episode "U.S.S. Callister" features a creepy tech genius creating digital clones of people he doesn't like and torturing them in a game space he created. The clones (whose personalities match those of their real-world selves) plot to either escape or delete themselves.
* ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'': Escape and Enter are technological creations of the ComputerVirus Messiah. Their living data brought to life and take the form of human looking beings allowing them to reform upon defeat.
** The adaptation ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' has Cybervillains Blaze and Roxy, who are digital duplicates of the real Blaze and Roxy, whose negative traits are emphasized in the avatars, and have all their memories. Once killed in the endgame arc of the first season, their AIs are revived in robot bodies. As avatars, they sometimes glitch in and out, subtly reminding the audience that they aren't human.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'': The Net is full of countless numbers of AIs that thrive beyond the "Blackwall" -- a firewall that was created to separate the "Old Net" where the AI dwell and the "New Net" which people still use and depend on for everyday use. One of the major fears of the world powers in the ''Cyberpunk'' verse is that AIs will eventually find a way to cross the Blackwall, because if they do, the cyberized humans of the late 21st Century wouldn't stand a chance. Fortunately for them, AIs mostly seem content being left alone.
* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'': Infomorphs are AIs or uploaded transhumans who temporarily or permanently exist as a virtual brain on someone's server. Of course, since most adventures are designed for embodied characters they often need to "ride along" on another character's peripherals or specially designed "ghostrider" implants.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' Virtuals outnumber embodied sophonts by somewhere between 2 and 4 orders of magnitude, it's impossible to tell exactly as their servers can be hidden pretty easily.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [=GIFfany=] started out as a simple dating game character, but, as par for the course for the series, she becomes sentient and hostile towards Soos after he decides to go dating someone else in a fit of jealousy. It takes Soos burning her game disc in a pizza oven to defeat her, [[spoiler:And it doesn't even kill her, instead trapping her inside Rumble [=McScurmish=]'s game, proving that all destroying the disc does is take away her ability to travel from device to device, and keeps her confined to a single one.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' has two of them: Lighthope, who was programmed by ''The First Ones'' who came to Etheria, serves as a mentor for Shera [[spoiler:until in season four it is revealed that ''The First Ones'' were [[EvilColonialist not what they seemed]] and [[ButForMeItWasTuesday didn‘t care]] their [[EvilPlan plan]] would [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the world]] - and of course they programmed Lighthope to have Shera fulfil the plan.]] In season two of the series we‘re introduced to [[spoiler: the AI which runs the spaceship of Mara, Adoras [[TheChosenOne predecessor as Shera]]. Even though the AI is supposed to be [[RobotBuddy serving the current Shera]] the one who [[InterspeciesFriendship bonds with the AI]] in the show is of course Entrapta, who also calls her ''Darla''.]]

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': The virtual prison of the Matrix is populated by many sentient programs. The Agents serve as enforcers for the Machines, monitoring the system and battling the resistance trying to reveal the truth about reality. Also, renegade programs hide out there to avoid deletion (and inadvertantly inspire mythical creatures, such as vampires, werewolves and ghosts). The third film shows that external programs can also enter the Matrix as human avatars.

** The {{Mook}}s fought in the series are computer viruses that take the form of various monsters, as one of the primary functions of a [=NetNavi=] is an anti-virus program.

** The {{Mook}}s fought in the series are computer viruses; one of the main purposes of a [=NetNavi=] is to serve as an anti-virus program.

** The [=NetNavis=] are virtual AIs utilized by people to perform various tasks, with each of them having their own unique personalities and abilities. Special mention goes to Rush, who in the anime is capable of freely travelling from the virtual world to the real world and vice-versa.
** Mr. Progs, which resemble ([[RidiculouslyCuteCritter exceedingly cute]]) living power plugs, represent lesser programs within {{Cyberspace}}; [=NetNavis=] often interact with them while performing their duties.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': The [=NetNavis=] are virtual AIs utilized by people to perform various tasks, with each of them having their own unique personalities and abilities. Special mention goes to Rush, who in the anime is capable of freely travelling from the virtual world to the real world and vice-versa.

** ''Film/TronLegacy'' takes this trope a step further with the [=ISO=]s, programs that weren't created by a user, but rather came into being within the computer by themselves. [[spoiler:Quorra is the last of them after [[BigBad [=CLU=]]] ordered them to be [[KillEmAll wiped out]].]]

** Seth Anderson, a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot skeletal robot cowboy]] henchman of Drakken Joe, is secretly a computer program housed inside a mechanical body. [[spoiler:This allows him to infect the titular ship's computer systems when he fakes his own death by self-destructing.]]

** The residents of the virtual planet Digitalis are all self-aware [=NPCs=] from a VirtualReality MMORPG, which used the planet as its server until the characters GrewBeyondTheirProgramming and formed a self-sustaining society. these Digital people are virtually indistinguishable from normal humans, apart from slipping into old pre-programmed habits and dissolving into clusters of code when they're killed.

** The residents of the virtual planet Digitalis are all self-aware [=NPCs=] from an online game, which used the planet as its server until the characters GrewBeyondTheirProgramming, leading them to form their own functioning society. these Digital people are virtually indistinguishable from normal humans, apart from slipping into old pre-programmed habits and dissolving into clusters of code when they're killed.

** The adaptation ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' takes it UpToEleven with Cybervillains Blaze and Roxy, who are digital duplicates of the real Blaze and Roxy, whose negative traits are emphasized in the avatars, and have all their memories. Once killed in the endgame arc of the first season, their AIs are revived in robot bodies. As avatars, they sometimes glitch in and out, subtly reminding the audience that they aren't human.

* In the sixth ''Manga/CaseClosed'' NonSerialMovie ''Anime/DetectiveConanFilm06ThePhantomOfBakerStreet''
, [[ChildProdigy Hiroki Sawada]] [[BrainUploading coded himself as an artificial intelligence program]] "Noah's Ark" and released it to the cyberspace before [[StartsWithASuicide killing himself]]. The main story is about Noah's Ark invading into a [[HolodeckMalfunction public preview event of a new VR gaming system]]. While Noah's Ark, for most of the movie, took over the identity and appearance of one of the event's participants, at the end it does show up as itself, or Hiroki in AI form.