We know nothing of Zenyatta’s backstory prior to learning of The Iris.
It is possible The Iris is nothing more than a program installed in newer Omnics designed to make them believe in a false harmony between humans and Omnics and keep them pacified and compliant with human orders.
Omnics created before the Iris program was created, such as Bastion, or not created by current Omniums, like Orisa, do not have the Iris program installed and only perpetuate the lie that this is some kind of religion and that other Omnics can see the Iris too.
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As far as we can gather, the Iris isn’t a God Program or sentient AI. It is incapable of directly controlling a body- Mondatta and Zenyatta both went down different paths, with the latter explicitly disagreeing with the dogmatic teachings of his fellow monks. This proves that, while both believe in the Iris as a concept, it ultimately has no bearing on their decision-making or self awareness. Mondatta also states before his assassination that “Human, machine, [they] are all one within the Iris”. If this is to be taken as true, (and in the Overwatch universe it usually is) then the Iris is simply some higher power that doesn’t actually have the power to override consciences like Anubis.
The Iris is similar to various conceptions of religion in the present day. I, as an atheist, wouldn’t believe in the Iris myself, but would most certainly cooperate with human-AI solidarity efforts on the basis of my own morals and philosophy. It clearly isn’t based on any Calvinist preordination theologies, as told to us by Zenyatta, but it most certainly can improve the mental and physical state of its believers by motivating and inspiring improvement, if not through actually empowering them. The Iris can make an impact, but only through the people who take it to be true and do not corrupt it for their own means.
P.S. As stated in the above’ bio, there was a life prior to the formation of the Shambali caste. Zenyatta describes it as preprogrammed, but given the way him and Lynx Seventeen wax about AI sentience and emotion, “preprogrammed” is more likely to be figurative than literal- a work program, a mandate or quota that is more harsh and unfair than any human requirements. I can imagine that he was at work in a city like Kings Row or Hanamura before experiencing the Iris in full.
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We can only speculate about what the Iris really is with the little info we got.
But at some point during development it was a map:
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I always assumed that the iris wasn’t literally a monothiestic god as such but was more of an supernatural energy present within omnics that the shambali ussumes is a spirit and are using for the basis of a buddist-esque “we are all one spirit so we can attain peace” message and teachings.
The supernatural energy that zen uses to attack and for transcendance specifically.
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Bastion seems to contain some form of the “Iris energy”, seeing as the power core exposed in its Sentry configuration and its eye in Recon are fairly similar in color to Zenyatta’s Orbs of Destruction and meditation marks on his forehead. I’m not entirely certain that the energy is supernatural or even powerful- the only thing I can associate it with is that it belongs to sentient beings (Bastion, Zenyatta, Okoro, Lynx Seventeen), and may very well be the cause for said sentience. Orisa is noticeably lacking it, and this is because she is simply an astonishingly well programmed robot, not an omnic born with a conscience. Her personality is meant to evolve and imitate human behavior, but it is a more a prime directive that she has become accustomed to and enjoys as opposed to something she actually chose.
Given that Bastion isn’t capable of channeling energy projection or wide healing fields, Zenyatta’s ability to control it comes down to a matter of his own willpower and his specially designed orbs. While the Iris as an energy is present in all self-determining omnics and it gives them the ability to undergo life processes, it is yet to be seen as to whether other beings can harness it.
It’s possible that the Iris is simply a naturally occurring religion. If so, it’s only a matter of time before it splinters into countless denominations.
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In an ideal world all of those would’ve been added
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That would be very similar to rA9 in Detroit become human
A program installed within the android minds that causes them to become deviant so it would be kind of the opposite really
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