Members Philipp Böing

Apr 19 2011: Another corollary to this point is, that consciousness is usually very overrated. We are conscious of much less than we think we are.
Daniel Dennett dispels the myth of what he calls the 'Cartesian Theater'.
Here's one of his TED talks: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_our_consciousness.html

Feb 17 2011: If you have an apple tv you could easily watch TED on your TV, since it's already a podcast in iTunes. Also, there's the OpenTV project that TED launched to encourage TV stations to build programmes around TED. I'm not sure how much that has taken off yet, though, I haven't heard anything about it since launch.

I agree that an additional audio format would be a nice second option for most TEDtalks (as you said, not all are useful - a photography talk doesn't work without the visuals...) You could already do it yourself now, but an audio only podcast would be more convenient.

Feb 17 2011: Not TED itself, but TEDx's in Australia would be a good starting place.

Apparently just a couple of days ago at TEDxManitoba, three aboriginal men were interviewed on stage and made quite an impact. Unfortunately the video isn't yet uploaded, but take a look at this: http://www.nothinginwinnipeg.com/2011/02/towards-a-more-diverse-tedx-manitoba/

Also there was this from TEDxSydney, though I'm not sure it meets what you're looking for:
"Mary Victor O'Reeri - Indigenous Australian Wisdom. A Story of Life, Discovery & Death"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYAR-UYo04w&feature=player_embedded

Feb 16 2011: Let me say that I'm not necessarily against population control, but I think you're severly overestimating the problem.
As Hans Rosling has pointed out (see my other post), population growth declines steadily. Also, consider the massive trend towards urbanization. People living in cities have a much smaller footprint on the environment, and - closer to the question of population - when people move to cities there's also a significant drop in children per woman. So, while there're always many things to worry about, the population isn't amongst them.

An another note: You only have to look at China to look at a large-scale method of population control that worked. I'm however quite certain that a 'one-child-policy' isn't easily possible in other cultures (the question of desirability is another). An interesting issue culturally raised about this (I believe I heard it first asked by Christopher Hitchens, but I might be mistaken) is that China has now raised generations of only-children. Literally a whole culture for whom the word "sibling" / "brother" / "sister" has no direct meaning. Thats an fascinating cultural byproduct to me (although, as I realize now, slightly off track, so excuse me ;-) )

Feb 16 2011: My favorite hidden musical performance:
Pamelia Kurstin and the theremin. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pamelia_kurstin_plays_the_theremin.html

Also, one of my personal and early favorites:
Patrick Awuah on Educating Leaders (at TEDafrica) http://www.ted.com/talks/patrick_awuah_on_educating_leaders.html