Don't you think it's somewhat typical of U2 to come to these realizations rather late? To get really caught up in a creative process, something kind of heady and cerebral and want to follow it all the way to the end, and then at some point realize that it doesn't really integrate with their long term vision of themselves and their identity? I'm thinking of R&H and Pop in particular, when they were really excited about following this particular road while all by themselves in the studio, and then once they got out there on the road with the fans were like, "Oh. This doesn't work for us in the way we thought it would." So maybe, using your theory, this is a really smart preemptive move to cut off that kind of misstep, rather than a late-moment pullback, crisis of confidence thing.