“Analysis Paralysis” is a term that describes a situation where a person is offered enough choices or outcomes, and in the process of analyzing the situation, over-thinks the situation and becomes prone to failing to make a decision at all.

To give an example, an experiment, lead by Columbia University business professor Sheena Iyengar, demonstrated the concept through sampling and selling jam at a market. There were two different scenarios in the experiment: one where dozens of different jams were available for shoppers to choose from, and one where just half a dozen different choices were offered.

The experiment found that, while more people engaged with the exhibit with the larger amount of variety available, far, far fewer people ended up actually purchasing jam when compared to the group that had less choice.

In this song, Napalm Death refers to this conundrum where, despite knowing that humanity inflicts a lot of harm upon itself, it is stuck in Analysis Paralysis. While some want to solve these problems, enough don’t act in a manner that actually leads to resolution. Others are just overwhelmed by the complexity of the problems, and try to carry on, ignoring that they exist. But in the end, we are still stuck on the path of inaction, and humanity continues to erode as a result.