8 Ways Mass Effect Eerily Predicted The Future
8. Private Companies Own Space
1286856Victor Manswell is probably the most important character in Mass Effect that you’ve never heard of. He was the billionaire who, annoyed at the slow pace of the government’s space program, invested his own dosh into space exploration.
Opening up this state monopoly would eventually mean corporate competition would drive technological advancements – and set a precedent in the galaxy that gave private companies like ExoGeni and Eldfell-Ashland the opportunity to buy up space. Thar’s gold in them thar planets.
Manswell’s expedition occurred around a hundred years before the events of Mass Effect, before all those fancy Mass Relays were discovered. Manswell was just a dude with a dream, a healthy bank balance, and 300 followers desperate to get off this damn rock and colonise another planet.
Basically, this guy was Elon Musk.
You know the guy – not only does the billionaire businessman own Tesla, he’s also heavily invested in SpaceX. That’s the company determined - at huge expense - to create re-usable rocket ships, which will eventually make space travel cheaper and easier for everyone. If we ever colonise Mars, you can be sure that Musk and SpaceX will be there laying the first foundations.
He’s different from Victor Manswell in only one way: Musk's charisma has afforded him way more than 300 loyal fans who’d follow him into the space.