"[5] O'Reilly writes:In deliberate imitation of [B.F.] Skinner's Walden Two, the story is organized around a "conversion" theme, in which a hostile outsider is persuaded of the merits of a society he initially criticizes.

Where Skinner makes a sincere attempt to sell a utopian ideal, however, Herbert's deeper concern is to re-create the process by which a man gives up his individual perspective for a group dream.

[3] Their newspapers are vaguely subversive with their folksy, enlightened commentary on world affairs; their dinner conversations knowledgeably reference great theories of psychology, politics, and cognitive science.

Knowing that Jaspers creates exceptionally perceptive, penetrating individual minds, Dasein realizes that he has offended a communal id that feels threatened by him.

[3] The science fiction scholar, editor, and critic David Pringle rated The Santaroga Barrier three stars out of four and described the novel as "one of Herbert's more effective treatments of the hive mentality - and the possible next step in the evolution of human intelligence.