Haven't seen it in decades, but iirc it did a good job of putting the history of tech into a fairly materialist perspective albeit with a bit of great man theory on the side. It shows how small incremental discoveries and inventions over time accumulate in novel ways to create new theories and technology.
I'll be the stem lord and mention the Connections series
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_documentary)
Haven't seen it in decades, but iirc it did a good job of putting the history of tech into a fairly materialist perspective albeit with a bit of great man theory on the side. It shows how small incremental discoveries and inventions over time accumulate in novel ways to create new theories and technology.