Will Wright, video game industry icon and creator of The Sims and the upcoming Spore, recently joined Lost creator J.J. Abrams, former eBay president Jeff Skoll, and war documentarian Deborah Scranton for a two-hour talk called "Screenovation" at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference. According to a report by CNET News.com, these three luminaries have at least one thing in common with Wright: they all believe that entertainment and technology can have a profound effect on the world.

For Wright, he believes that his evolution-based game Spore will be able to educate kids (and possibly even adults) about the long-term effects their actions may have. As an example, Wright tied Spore to a subject that is of increasing concern to people across the world � global warming. He said that today's kids could learn about the phenomenon because in the game when you pump tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it's only a matter of minutes before the planet starts to burn up.

"By giving kids toys like this, I hope to give them some sense of what it might be like to (live on Earth) in 100 years," Wright said as he discussed Spore. "That's why I think toys can change the world."

Ultimately, Wright hopes that his game will inspire today's young to go out and create a new future, to alter the world for the better. After all, in Spore the player is controlling what's going on and is a director of sorts. "Most games put players in the role of (Star Wars') Luke Skywalker. This is about putting the player in the role of George Lucas," Wright affirmed.

For similarly inspirational stories from Skoll, Abrams and Scranton, check out the full report linked above.

[Thanks to 1UP for the tip.]