“Havelock laughed. ‘Belters,’ he said. ‘One thing goes weird and you think the whole ecosystem’s crashing.’”

This observation from Havelock, Miller’s Earthborn partner, establishes that people from the Inner Planets see Belters as different. In this case, Havelock is pointing to their sensitivity to interdependencies. Havelock glibly dismisses this awareness a form of paranoia, but it is a logical outcome of living in the vacuum of space, an environment that is normally inhospitable to life. In the Belt, survival depends on all the moving parts working properly and cohesively. The subtext here suggests that humans on Earth take their environment—including the gravity, the air, the water, and the food—for granted.

“Recycled air that had passed through a million lungs. Water from the tap so clean it could be used for lab work, but it had been piss and shit and tears and blood and would be again. The circle of life on Ceres was so small you could see the curve. He liked it that way.”

Miller is a proud Belter. He doesn’t feel inferior to the Inners and sees no reason to imitate their worlds. He doesn’t like the idea of planetary gravity pulling him down or the tenuous balance of a natural atmosphere. He likes structure and control, two traits that are absolutely key to life in the Belt.

“Racist propaganda bullshit […] It’s the one that says the difference in environment has changed the Belters so much that instead of just being a bunch of skinny obsessive-compulsives, they aren’t really human anymore.”

Havelock challenges Miller’s apparent defense of the “selective effect,” the idea that Belters prioritize environmental systems over individual lives. He considers it racist to view Belters in that light, arguing that it minimizes their humanity. Miller retorts that he’s not implying that Belters are somehow inhuman, but he thinks maybe he is.