Continuing his analysis, Barlow addressed "The Last of the Masters", contrasting it with an earlier work by Dick, "The Defenders". In "The Defenders", humanity has been duped by a noble lie—provided by their robot soldiers—into believing in a war which is not actually taking place. In the latter story, Barlow asserts that Dick surprisingly agreed with such neoconservative theorists as Leo Strauss in the efficacy of the deception. "Here, the have saved mankind... The 'noble lie' has served its purpose." However, Barlow concedes, "[but this is an extremely early story and Dick had not yet clarified his own world view..." Comparing this story to "The Last of the Masters", Barlow took note of Dick's commentary from "The Golden Man" collection ("...sometimes there lies a gulf between what is theoretically right and that which is practical.") and concluded that the story represented Dick's understanding of "the problems at the other extreme..." in politics. Where most of Dick's stories presented government in skeptical terms to warn the reader of potential abuse, "The Last of the Master" presented an argument for the utility of government.