Some quotes from the TED website:
"TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds:
Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TEDx program and the annual TED Prize."
Many of the TED talks are on science and medicine now. So the original concept of technology and design have expanded greatly.
There is also an annual TED prize.
"
The
TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED Community's exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of "One Wish to Change the World." After several months of preparation,
the wish is unveiled at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. Over the life of the prize, wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact."
Here is info on Dave Eggers, who was a past winner. He got to make a wish, and TED helps in some way to make the wish come true.
http://www.tedprize.org/2008-winners/
So, this could be a platform for educating the masses on ME/CFS, on gender discrimination in medicine, on XMRV, or some other idea that would be of benefit to us.
We could wish for better funding from CDC for ME/CFS, for example.
In order to get a better idea you can peruse the TED website. All the talks are available to watch for free. Many are awesome and inspiring. It is worth your time to check them out.
There is a global conference in July, BTW.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks