According to Toto's official web site, the song was inspired by George Lucas's film "THX1138". The film depicted a "utopian" society in which we were all numbers, not names. If you've seen the movie and seen the video for the song, you'd see the connection immediately.
From songfacts.com:
According to Toto's official web site, the song was inspired by George Lucas's film "THX1138". The film depicted a "utopian" society in which we were all numbers, not names. If you've seen the movie and seen the video for the song, you'd see the connection immediately.