Mars

One of the consistent conflicts in the book is what to do with Mars. Sax believes that Mars should be colonized like Earth with all of these cities and people, while Ann thinks that Mars should be kept at its purest state and should just be studied. I side with Ann over this issue because I can see where she's coming from. She talks about how much we've messed up Earth with everything that they've done and that they could be messing with life that already exists on Mars. This is a modern topic as well as we see many places that are being endangered (like the Amazon Rain forest) at the expense of mankind wanting to make money. Many people want to preserve the beauty of our world but others, who are much richer and thus can be much more influential, see differently. I really side with Ann about wanting to keep Mars as a place to study from because I hate the thought that everything humans see we must destroy. Humans don't see beyond their scope of understanding, and the book portrays this beautifully. The characters can never see what the other characters might see, and if they do, they just act ignorant about it. They don't wish to compromise, as seen with Sax and Ann, it must be their way or no way.
Another aspect of the book I really enjoy is how real the characters are. They're all just awful humans, but that's what makes them so realistic. I could never see myself doing what these characters do, like what they say Maya does with sex (use it as a weapon), but I can see people like that. I can see an Arkady who's just always weaseling around and slightly annoying everyone, or a emotionally disconnected Frank. When John talks about Sax's self made religion (thisness), it really struck something with me. When they see Mars and the entire crew of the Ares gets deliriously happy, Maya talks about thisness. She rejoices in how happy everyone is because she knows it won't last. When John and Maya see each other again and decide to rekindle their relationship, John thinks about thisness. He just thinks about the intensity of the moment and how much he loves where he is right then and there. Later, thisness causes John to propose to Maya. But these moments are just so relatable. Everyone's had those times when life just feels too hyper realistic and you feel with so much intensity everything that's going around. You take a step back from yourself and think, this is my life, this is who I am, this is the world I live in, and you either love it or you hate it. It's a moment of complete introspection, and very rare. Those are times that you look back on and think about what you were doing then, like Maya does when she remembers how happy everyone was and just wishes she could go back to that time. For these characters, I think, do they deserve this happiness? They're such god awful people so do they deserve this immortality they're getting? Why do they have the right to dictate whatever happens on Mars? But then I realize, I'm just as human as they are, I can't judge them. With these characters, they're just being too driven by their personal needs and wants. Vlad and Ursula are driven by science to create their immortality solution. Maya's driven by power. John's driven by fame. None of these people do anything for anyone else, and if they do, they just think about how that'll impact their own lives. Maybe that's why I agree with Ann so strongly. Ann didn't want for anything specific, she just wanted to study Mars like they originally intended to do. That's what I would want to do if I was in her shoes. But there's always a Sax in everyone's lives that complete destroys everything you wanted. As more and more people come to Mars, it's harder to control. People are hard to control. You tell them to do one thing and they instantly want to do exactly the opposite. The first hundred reflected mankind at the time, because as you see more and more in Mars, they're exactly the same as the first hundred. Helmut is just as power hungry as Sax is, but except he was on Earth. There're more where they came from.