[_3u10]

Speculation and greed is the foundation of all new technology.

  Entrepreneur: 'Hey, look if we boil water it moves this piston'
  Investors: 'We speculate that this may be important in the future, here's money'
  Entrepreneurs: 'I made a steam engine'
  Investors: 'We speculate that this may be important in the future, here's money'
  Entrepreneurs: 'I made a railway system'
  Investors: 'We speculate that this may be important in the future, here's money'

...

[viraptor]

I do not see greed anywhere in this exchange. Also there's a difference between what people normally describe as investment vs speculation. The first being assuming a growth of value of something useful. The second is making money on the difference in a value, completely ignoring what the value represents. (yeah, the line is a bit fuzzy in practice)