Songfacts®:

• This is a track from The Stage, an album based loosely around the concept of artificial intelligence. Vocalist M Shadows explained to Rolling Stone:
  
  "The album is talking about things that are right around the corner that could potentially be changing the world. We have this yearning to know the answers to the big questions about space and why we're here; we can't evolve fast enough to figure these answers out on our own, but we can do it through artificial intelligence. But there's also some very scary downsides that could come if we don't put the right safety precautions in there."
• Shadows sings here about nanotechnology (the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale) and in particular nanobots. He explained:
  
  "The song 'Paradigm' talks about nanobots – and how they can potentially be used to cure diseases and help you live forever. But how much of a human being would you be at that point? If you're 70 percent machine and 30 percent human, are you going to lose yourself?"