This is Stephen Fry's Great Leapiers, the stories behind inventions.

Episode 5.

Let's play Monopoly.

The history of science and the history of technology tell of remarkable individuals who

through experiment, intelligence, coincidence, vision, tile, persistence and insight

transformed our relationship with the material world, century by century, decade by decade,

year by year.

We understood governing laws and principles a little better and used that understanding

to manipulate natural forces in ways that made our lives easier, more comfortable, more

exciting and more fulfilling.

This at least is one way of looking at it.

Of course, the Wii encompasses not just people of genius, benevolence, humanitarian, impulse

and a mission to improve the world, the Wii refers to humans and Wii are all kinds of everything.

Kind, greedy, cruel, capricious, brilliant, mean, greedy, competitive, generous, greedy, ambitious,

empathetic, greedy, greedy and greedy.

I'm including myself in that, of course, and doubtless you'll want to think about

including yourself too.

We are greedy for food, comfort, respect, admiration and excitement and greedy for pounds,

dollars and yens that tokens that we think will bias those and more.

We are greedy for knowledge, greedy for a better future, we are greedy for good and greedy

for ill.

That greed is part of the impulse that keeps us reaching out further, usually without much

...