Hmm... inspiring...
1.Nobel Society: [300 +1000 Gold] (Explosives) Allows buying of technology advances from other civs at half the normal rate.
2.Holy Text: (Religion)
3.False advancements (e.g. Flat Earth). Cause higher science cost for
the equivalent real advancement. This could easily tie in with the
paragraph above for example.
I think these were the best things I found from the file, but not from CivII. Especially if you make 2 a rogue wonder which causes the 3

!