happening with human rights around our world on Think Tech Live, broadcasting from our downtown studio in Honolulu, Hawaii in Moana, New York. Today we're looking at South Sudan's driving for justice, looking at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 17, right to property and land. Today I'm joined by students' organization for liberty and entrepreneurship, SOHO, and very excited to be able to meet with the executive director, as well as the communications of public relations officer. David, could you tell me why this issue is so important and what inspired you to first get involved in South Sudan on this important topic? Thank you so much, Jiswa. To be honest, the emblem of South Sudan looks at justice, liberty, and prosperity. When you look at the flag of South Sudan, that's what it entails at all. The human right is also one of the things the country fought for, for the cessation from Sudan, my dad, from South Sudan. So it's a way back story of South Sudanese fighting for the right to be independent. And on that matter, I look at the human right in South Sudan not being respected. I look at that aspect of individual liberty, which is not yet granted in the country, land ownership. These are issues that when you move to any court, you get them frequently on the court cases. This prompted me to contribute to the liberation of the country by promoting human rights in the country. And for sure, that has been what has been behind, the motive behind me joining this movement, so that I can accomplish the ideology that was put in place for this country to succeed from Sudan to South Sudan, and of which I have to also do my contribution. When this was happening, I had no chance of contributing to this new nation of South Sudan. And I thought that instead of asking more from South Sudan, I have to do something from South Sudan. And that is the reason why I have to join this movement. Thank you so much. Moving to my colleague, John, we know that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the power of ideas to initiate change in the world, but also cultural and historical conditions challenge understanding of universality until deeper dialogues include and involve all of humanity, including most importantly, directly impacted people around the table for transformation. Can you share with us what inspired you to focus on this important issue, and why is this issue so important in international human rights law? Thank you so much for having me on this show. I'm so happy and glad to be here. First of all, it's very important that not only the human, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that everyone has their own property, but even in the Constitutional South Sudan Part II, which is on the Human Rights Bill, Article Number 15 is also saying every woman has the right to own property in South Sudan. So both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also the Constitution of South Sudan, clearly tell us that women have the right to own property. But the most important, the very shocking thing which is happening in South Sudan is, regardless of this in the Constitution, the cultural practices and beliefs in South Sudan overrides the Constitution of South Sudan and even the Human Rights Declaration in the way that women in South Sudan are restricted according to the culture from owning the property. So you find that if a woman has stayed with her husband for many years and they get divorced, so there is no law in South Sudan that tells how much of this property the woman should take home. Or even if the husband dies, all the property belongs to the families of the deceased. So the woman is supposed to leave the house and go empty-handed. So imagine if the woman has stayed with her husband for 30 years, that's most of her active life. And eventually after the death of the husband, she leaves the house empty-handed. That means she is going to start life from zero. So with this, it's a contributing factor to promoting poverty in Africa. So that's why, for me as a women's rights activist, I do not sit down and see women being restricted. So that's why we have to stand up and then fight against these cultural beliefs and educate women so they can understand their rights and advocate for those rights so they can enjoy their rights. Thank you because Article 417 focuses on the important right to own property alone, which is significant, but also as well as an association with others. It also points out no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of one's property. And Article 17 ensures equality and an ability for people to have land to exercise self-determination and be able to provide for one's self-family and community necessities for a life of dignity. Can you share with us a bit how SOHO actualizes this article and what actions you're involved with Benjamin to promote and protect this right in South Sudan? Thank you so much, Yossia Coppa. The way SOHO engaged and promotes this right, we looked at occupying the women with the knowledge because if they don't have the knowledge, that is the basic. If they don't have the knowledge of their basic rights, they will not be able to claim for their rights. Like what John was saying, these are things that have been happening and even the men in power or the people in power know very well this is not supposed to happen. The constitution is very clear on this, but you still find these women are exposed and are subjected to this kind of counter on dehumanization, which of course SOHO has taken up an initiative of empowering these women to understand their human rights on land and property. And after owning land, what can they get them from this land to growth? And SOHO has come up with that initiative of giving capacity building to these women, not only to these two women who are being victims of this situation, but also to the authority, the men in power, the people in power to understand this is what they're supposed to do so that these women are protected. The sole responsibility of the authority government is to protect the right and properties of its civilians and that is one thing we know in them. We bring up this as a reminder that this is what we are all supposed to do. We keep these women, know their right to owning land and to use this land to generate wealth from it and that will lead to human growth and the economic growth of the country has went. So that's actually basically what SOHO is being to engage the victims, the people who are victims, to also make sure that we have these testimonies. These are people who are not heard, people who are not talking about what is happening to them. They are able to stand bold and say, this is what belongs to me because of the knowledge. We believe that knowledge is power. When we have the knowledge, we have the power and we can stand a chance of asking. And to be very honest on this matter, the judiciary system here which is supposed also to be a kind of an institution which is supposed to be giving the rights of the people is also has that oversight on that particular aspect of land property. And it allows us then to continue the conversation with John. You talked about it being outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also in your own constitution. Can you share with us with South Sudan as one of the newest nations and members of the UN? How South Sudan still faces fundamental challenges to guarantee all human rights for all and how SOHO is organizing to be able to assist to make sure this is possible. Thank you so much. Currently in South Sudan, the problem is both the government knows very well that the rights of human rights on property is being violated. But yet it is nothing to be done on the ground, the side of the government to rectify this creation. So because of this, because of the sense of the government on this issue, that's why SOHO has set up a task for its children to stand together with some of the international organizations and some human rights activists as a wireness, also persuade the government to realize the intent of the rise of women which is being violated so that they can also stand up and defend the women's rights and property. So because of this, we as the members of SOHO, Student Organization for Liberty and Interpretation, we have created a very serious matter to bring to the attention of the government, to the attention of the world so that they can understand that the violation of property rights is still happening in the 21st century, even in a democratic country like South Sudan. So this is what we are doing at the moment, trying to raise awareness so that people can clear the risk of the women to whom their rights to property is being violated. Just as what David has said, we are also to empower these women so that they can also raise their voices. Not only the women, we are also trying to empower the men champions. We are forming some men channel groups who are also unknown women, supporting them to raise their voices so that the world and even the government can understand their pain and come to their decision. That's really important. And then of course that really builds on what we're sharing here, is that there's education, mobilization, and then realization to ensure this right. Can you share with us David, what are some of the campaigns to be able to change the conditions so that women are able to exercise the right to own property? And how is that being coordinated? Thank you so much, Kopa, for giving me this chance again. In South Sudan, there have been a lot of campaigns going on, one of which is run by a certain organization called the Guwata Mara. The Guwata Mara is an Arabic word which says the power of a woman. We also have the Mara base, Mara Saki. She's just a woman. Such campaigns are being done in South Sudan to empower women so that they can be able to stand and say, I also have the same power. It goes back to the gender equality, the equality we talk about always whereby we give that a woman should recognize that she has the power to do something. She has the power to claim for what the righteous belongs to her. And she has the power to do it, has also the other counterparts like the male partners do it. So that is, these are some of the campaigns going on in South Sudan in particular to empower women. And according to the constituents, the women have been given 25 percent sometimes. And now it is 35 percent where they have to be represented at all levels. And such campaigns are there to boost them, to give them that morale. And it gives them the space to talk on behalf of other women. That is, these are some of the campaigns going on in South Sudan. And if this is taken into consideration like having more women in power or having more women in events and exercises like this, it will lead to a better world where women are empowered and are able to demand or to claim for their rights. Excellent point. And we know that women hold up half the sky. And the points that you're sharing then are examples of empowerment that really in a way achieve the UN 2030 agenda as well of global goal number five of gender justice. John, can you share some more examples of these campaigns and coordinated actions to guarantee that women are full contributors to the community and to the new country of South Sudan? Thank you so much. Just like what the colleague there just said, those are some of the campaigns that happen in South Sudan and of which role is also part of it. One part I think that I would wish to put across is we are also to put a low proposal because this is a cultural aspect that particularly we are in our next move, we are writing a proposal that is supposed to be signed by the local leaders expressing their desire to support the rights of women. So we are working with a lawyer and also some of the key local leaders so that they can draft up a law expressing their position that they will submit to own property. And this is possible and if it is signed to law that means in every country South Sudan that violates the rights of women will always be referring to this document and upholding it to their best. The way we are coordinating this activity is we know that as so we cannot do much. What is we are trying to coordinate with some of the international organizations that support the property women property rights. We have been recently working with Atlas Network who are also one of our key partners supporting us in campaigning for the rights of women to own property and also conducting some TV shows like what we are doing currently one way of raising awareness, coordinating activities so the world can know what's happening in South Sudan. And also we have a strong radio connection that we basically focus on radio talk shows. Because with the radio talk shows we are able to reach wider audience and when we conduct workshops and the same so we have a strong relationship here with the radio stations where we go to normal radio stations and try to raise our awareness regarding the property rights of women and to have. Thank you and that builds of course very much so what was being mentioned earlier about the different activism and advocacy to really guarantee the listeners and with this we have been able to reach a very good audience on the radio. That's how we are to the media, the media of the media. We also coordinate with the media so that's what we are doing at the moment. In South Sudan we are doing the campaigns to raise more awareness regarding the property rights of women and we believe that is all we are able to do. That's why we bring in some international organizations, media so that we can be able to provide that community. Just as I said we are also working with partners like Atlas Network who are supporting us in raising awareness and also conducting TV shows like what we are doing at the moment in one way of coordinating the activities and trying to raise awareness so that we can know what's happening regarding property rights of women in South Sudan. Thank you and I know David you want to add something immediately before we get into the next aspect so please. Thank you so much. I just want to add something on what John was saying about our coordination mechanism and who we work with. We also leverage on the existing structures like the Royal Family Police where we have better connections with the queen of the land because in this part we have still a kingdom existing. We have about two kingdoms which are still existing. We leverage on such existing structures because they are vocal in the community and they also advocate for similar things which we together with them make sure that we voice it out and not only the kingdom we also look at existing structures that are influential in the community. People who are promoting such ideas in the community. We have a lot of structures like the First Lady herself is also leading campaigns that promote women in South Sudan. She has also been an avenue for us to make sure that we reach more women and give them capacity building and that's that. Thank you so much. We know the UDHR calls for a coalition of conscience sent around trust and transformation while honoring values, voice and vision and on the 75th anniversary it's important to reflect on the role of human rights in our daily lives and world affairs. Exploration of the right to property in Africa does into fundamental issues important to all around our planet and David if we continue on with what you were sharing you talked about parliament and people having seats in government to secure and also your colleague John shared about municipal actions to guarantee that local laws are in effect. Can you share in some ways the champions that are now creating a culture of human rights in Sudan and how you're able to partner together? Thank you so much. That's before we move ahead. I have to make a correction in the South Sudan. We already separated from Sudan. We have Sudan and then we have South Sudan. Like we said earlier, we have champions in parliament. We have champion in government where who are representing women in South Sudan and some of these women are holding executive positions in the government and are very vocal talking about the human right, more especially women right in conjunction with other UN agencies and other non-governmental organizations. They are really very vocal and they have pushed the country of South Sudan to also have a fair representation of women in the parliament and all even in the judiciary executive. They have pushed for this and at least now we have 35% of women representation in those positions in the government status. That is about South Sudan. Even when you look at the regional level like Uganda, other like Rwanda, Ethiopia, you find there's a lot of women in politics who are playing politics and they are encouraging gender equality and also the issue of women right and the right of women on property. It's something we have a lot of champions that we are able to mention like for South Sudan. The speaker for parliament is a woman and she's very vocal about women participation in politics. She leads the country in terms of empowering women to own property and more precisely the women right everywhere she goes and that is what is there and you find there are some governors who are women who are leading and are very vocal about this kind of activism we are talking about. So we have, I will call them hidden heroes because we have not published most of them in the country yet. Those are the ones that are already there and are being great thing for this country. Thank you and as we're talking about South Sudan it also reminds me how it's also a similar situation in the South Pacific where people in countries such as Tonga, the same situation happens where a woman is not allowed to inherit land yet her son would inherit the land if something happened to her partner and so even though we're talking about Africa and Oceania and different sides of the world John you can share how it's a common struggle for these basic rights and maybe expand a bit on the importance of women's rights around the world and how women's rights are human rights John. Thank you so much for helping me. Women's rights is very important on the one because one when we uphold the rights of women it's one way of encouraging upholding their dignity you know if a woman has the rights on the property and she holds the property and has the title deed to it so it promotes her dignity and also it allows her not to be very to give to the honorable because she knows that she has property and she can use this property to be able to put some food on the table for her kids so it's very important for us to promote her the property rights and also that when we promote the property of women rights around the world it's one way of empowering them to be self-reliant because in most cases in Africa women are looked at like people who dependant on men but when women own property so we find that the woman is able to stand on her own take care of her kids and even a partner and she is able to stay or to be on her own rather than be independent so that's why it's very important for us to promote the rights of women around the world so that not only men to get into the livelihood of the government of the family but both men and women are supposed to contribute to the livelihood of the community so that's why it's very important for us to support the property rights of women. Thank you so much and we know the UDHR article 17 ensures all are not arbitrarily deprived of property and all are able to own property alone and then associate with others to create that vital community shared and article 17 is one way people exercise their engagement for equality and guarantee good governance in every nation and global democracy for a collective planet. The people do desire dignity and are part of this global family for freedom and we appreciate you both sharing. Can you provide briefly a little bit about the future of the right in South Sudan? Thank you for having me again. I am seeing a bright future in human rights in South Sudan because everyone is talking about it everyone is getting empowered. One important thing that I believe is the people who are victims of these situations now are getting to understand and that is shaping already the future. We are predicting that there will be a good future because people will be informed of their basic human rights right to own land and their right to own properties. When they are informed they will be well prepared for the future. I appreciate that so much. It begins with being informed and then being able to influence the institutions and then having an impact in everyone's daily life. John, can you share with us your vision for the future of the right? The vision of the rights of the land in South Sudan is bright because one is they are just owning the project. They are the victims and they know how thankful it is to live with that property. So we believe that as we are involving them we are creating more awareness, we are educating them and also the fact that we are using other stakeholders like the law enforcement agencies, other international organizations, government organizations. We are trying to raise awareness that we are involving them in these activities. So because of these we believe that these stakeholders will understand why it's important for us to have the rights of women to be at hand in South Sudan. So as soon as they understand it and they are empowered and because of the champion groups that we are forming they will be able to stand on their own and advocate for rights to own property and we believe once they own their property they will use this property as collateral to start their own business and then they will be able to stand on their own. So it's one way of encouraging them to know their rights to property and also one way to empowering them to be a self-reliant. Thank you so much and we know it's so vital that South Sudan was able to gain its independence becoming one of the newest nations at the UN but that the struggle does not end with that act of self-determination but that we're all committed to still make sure that human rights are for all in your country when men and women are treated equally and that everyone has this important right of Article 17 the right to own property. Thank you both for sharing and more importantly what you do on a daily basis in South Sudan for a bright future for this new nation. Thank you.


Hello everyone. Hello. My name is Giovanni Caligari. I'm from Paraguay. I did a localization for the indigenous language of Paraguay which is called Guarani. So some stats I have here. 40% of Paraguayans only speak Guarani. That means they actually speak more Guarani than Spanish and we are a Hispanic country. Also because of that 90% of Paraguayans are bilingual and just in the past 20 years the government just created a new grammar for the language. Even though the language has been around for 700 years and he's been accepted. It became the second language of the country in 1961. So I'm gonna give you a quick background. My own background. I was raised in the states in Canada for 15 years. I decided I wanted to move back to Paraguay but if I was going to move back I wanted to do something I like. So I moved back last year in October. In November I already got in touch with TDF and they approved me to do the localization. When I started I didn't know how I was gonna do it. I don't speak Guarani at all. I know how to read and write. That's it. So I decided I wanted to do the translation for the guru and today LibreOffice is Guarani. It's the first professional software in the world in an indigenous language. There are other softwares and other indigenous language but they're not professional. They're very small softwares like small educational language programs and software applications. So the implementation that I'm working hard to do in Paraguay is I've been talking a lot with Ministry of Education which is not very easy. They love the idea but that's about it. They don't they're having a hard time pushing it but I told them that I mean I'm working on with them that to take the software LibreOffice or LibreOffice in Guarani to the I don't know how to say it in English. In Spanish you want to say Campana. In the small villages outside the city okay. Towns and villages because outside the city they speak more Guarani than they actually speak Spanish. So one issue that the country has is we are not very tech savvy. So for them like I mentioned before if 40% of Paraguayans only speak Guarani they can finally start working in a language that is theirs because you can have the program that does everything you like but if it's not in your language it's it's useless right. So because a lot I've been I've been talking to some other schools and we're trying to create some new instructors for the for LibreOffice so they can use it even though there are Microsoft office users just to adjust them to the interface and it's it's a nice cost reduction for the country because we have as well like Vietnam a big piracy issue and this is something I'm not really doing but something that already happened the Paraguayan government has somewhat adopted ODF but they offer on the website Microsoft Office formats and ODF so you choose which one you want to download or use it. So what impact does LibreOffice in Guarani has? Like I said it's just a grammar has been created not too long ago and there's a lot of issues people deciding what's right what's wrong all this in life but nobody gets together to do it. So with that it gives me the liberty to modernize the language because Guarani it's a language that borrows a lot from Spanish and English right so because a lot I'm the first one in Paraguay or as a Guarani user that can actually integrate it with technology either basic because you know how calc has like stuff for economics statistics and stuff like that right so again LibreOffice becomes the first one in the world to have something like this for an indigenous language. Also the impact that you have is a new labor tool like I mentioned there's a lot of people that speak the language but they don't they can't work with it right so with this is a new form for them so to start getting educated it's also a door for other softwares in Guarani or indigenous language I've been talking to a guy in Bolivia he was so excited to see that I did this he decided to do the other indigenous language in Bolivia itself he already started he was so motivated but I don't know how far he's got but he really liked it same thing and like I mentioned before it is a fight against piracy a big issue we have in the country we're trying to cut down so when I come back I still have a few presentations to do this is I guess I don't know if it's really a point or it's not. Ka Kupe Paraguay is a non-profit foundation called Paraguay Educate Paraguay and they were so motivated by the work I've done they implemented already in 5000 computers I have in this in the small city of Ka Kupe so when I come back I have a presentation to do it with them and explain it why and they say they also want to they would like to contribute back to the translation over Amisiones Argentina as in the north of Argentina Guarani is also spoken outside of Paraguay it's actually spoken by 10 million people which is a lot and the north of Argentina also speak it so they invited me to go there to show them because in Misiones they just past few years they accepted Guarani as a official language of the province right and again back I would be going back to the Universidad Nacional Asuncion the National University Universidad Nacional where I was there with Oliver not a long ago they say they they already used LibreOffice and in the school and they say they want to start distributing LibreOffice both languages so most likely they just we're gonna make a small package for the students so going back to Paraguay Luca to me is very important because they are trying to get a lot of the kids from the small villages to start using open source and from that they adopting Libre Guarani right they're actually doing the one laptop per child I don't really like that project that much but it's working for them they have closed eyes with a miniature education and that's good it's very good because like I mentioned the miniature education is very hard to deal with so at least I can have some sort of influence with them so we can start making a change and like I mentioned Paraguay Luca it's open source so they're working in open source a quick conclusion my presentation is actually almost done what's the main goal that I wanted to do for LibreOffice and Guarani we have a big issue with education the country only spends 3% of the budget in education which is very low so with this it becomes a resource for a better education you all know that today if you want to have a job the minimum you got to know is how to use office read write and live in use office those are the minimum so with that I think we can start developing the people in Paraguay much better with that start position in Paraguay at the same level while they're more developed countries countries like Uruguay which is not too far from Paraguay they became totally open source same with Chile and they see the potential of it and they have adopted LibreOffice I don't know if they I don't know if LibreOffice actually knows this and I guess this is going back it's preparing the Paraguayan users for the workforce because as I mentioned office is a very important tool to have it today I mean that's a must requirement and that's it thank you so I have a question is the Guarani that is spoken and written in Paraguay much different of the Argentinian and Bolivian? No they since we created or since Paraguay created that grammar and alphabet which is just borrowed from Spanish they're using the same the work that is done for Paraguayans would also be effective for other countries I forgot to mention in the previous slide I don't speak Guarani so what I did was I moved back in October and I had some cash that I saved to move you know so I spent the money from my own pocket with a professor or he's not a professor he's a speaker which I paid him every day every week we sit down every day for eight hours and I will come back home and I will work another eight hours again from home that's how we have that's we did LibreOffice in Guarani we had a nice team because he can speak it but he can't read and write and I can read and write in Guarani so I guess we joined powers in that way and he's working out pretty good so we still have to do some fixing because some of the stuff we translated has never been translated before so we have to go back and adjust it that's kind of why my work I'm doing right now it's not easy I'm slowly learning now but it's a very hard language to speak it any other questions users LibreOffice users we do have very small very small the University of Asuncion uses LibreOffice in school also there's a big newspaper called ABC they use LibreOffice I don't know to what extent there are a few companies that use it but I don't think they see the same value that LibreOffice has that's why when I go back that's something I want to work on it too I just been doing some research lately since I was here so basically what we have in those kind of countries is that LibreOffice is facing a fierce competition of pirated Microsoft yeah for sure I mean it's not about that it's free it's about choosing the right product right because I can get anyone can get Microsoft Office for free that's not a fight it's about showing on what's right right and that's something I'm slowly developing it's still a fight to go but the whole point is all about how do we communicate the right thing to people because they can do wrong things yeah that is there per view but what we can do is to you know put it in the right way we can put right things to the people and that's that's how we can increase the user base well I have a not too long ago in the Perry Ryan newspaper sorry news TV he was he's an active open source guy and he was explaining on TV which I thought was very interesting he said that sure you can get all the closed programs for free but I mean you forget I mean a lot of those programs they pay a lot of money for security so if they crack in it they're putting some malware inside so eventually you computer will have a virus why would you want to do that why don't you get the alternative and it's clean you know it's very clean you don't have to deal with it and I guess a lot of people started thinking about it and I thought that was very interesting when you mentioned it. Well that's an interesting way to market open source yeah by a crack it's closed source software and get the virus yeah he even said that to the lady on TV he's like she's like he asked her like do you have a virus in a computer she's like yeah he's like I don't so I'm curious we have people here in the other countries in Brazil we had many sites that offered Nubiosy they compiled the software and they distributed the software but in the software they put the malware yeah they do both malware and do you have problems in your countries with that because in Brazil I always receive a message with people complaining oh I have a virus in my computer because Nubiosy put the virus in my computer and I have to ask where did you do the download and site whatever no you have to download the official site do you have the same problem in your countries I don't have a problem with the office but we had some problem with other open source software gimp how that is you gimp how that is you um thank you


All right, I would like to introduce our next presenter is Ralph Spencer steamblick Ralph is a graduate student at the Southern California Institute of Architecture at his thesis work is in neuromorphic Architecture as well as compact urbanism. Thank you very much for being here. Thanks Really appreciated the words of the last speaker very interesting thoughts Urban citizens of the 20th century Were adapted describing the in great detail how to positively influence the progress of urban living and of the city But it is up to the urban dwellers of the 21st century to translate these ideas into reality in the closing remarks of His essay lightness Italo Calvino makes an interesting point We shall face The new millennium without hoping to find anything more than we ourselves are able to bring to it this is an image of The assembly line which is indicative of the 20th century We got really good at at creating Replicas of the exact same thing assembly line manufacturing became a way of life for us And today we live in that world where where we can replicate anything at low cost in mass quantities But I submit that there's a need to move beyond Beyond the assembly line productivity of the 20th century into an Ecosystem mentality in the 21st century. This is a diagram showing the Power consumption of a city in Abu Dhabi the first zero carbon emission city in the world Covered by the New York Times recently they're they're breaking ground on this city this year This this shows the way that the city utilizes energy, but not just utilizes it but uses the waste product of the energy Production as a resource for other systems If we take these these ideas and translate them into our societal norms Make them a part of who we are and what we do as a society becomes very powerful you know we talk to sustainability the ability to Minimize our carbon footprint and tread lightly on the earth It's not a matter of that the the more important thing to consider is making our waste products into a resource for other Other systems other entities other companies and and that's where we become truly sustainable We can tread as lightly as we want, but we're still gonna have a waste product But if we can make our waste products into into a resource for others, then they become Highly highly efficient systems that are then like I said truly sustainable so How do we accomplish this? This is an image of a swarm and many of you know of swarm theory the idea of Organization of decentralized organization and spontaneous Organization as I said to so the way that we were able to to move towards a model of of decentralized Organization is through our ability to act as a as a whole as an entity not as individuals But as as a conglomerate a unit together So I submit to you. What is what is transhumanism? many people would tell us that transhumanism as as some of the slides of previous presenters a strange conglomerate of of People and machine, but I submit to you that it is superorganism the huge superorganism of the human family and through Organization strategies such as these we as a swarm. We are able to move towards Transcending our abilities as individuals and becoming what we Can as a superorganism So we look at these as a dynamic system as We look at this as a dynamic system as a way to Relate to each other in flow in motion and I I'd like I bring this these slides of of atomic motion and of solar radiation to Help us understand or to to bring to mind the ideas of dynamics or of motion in time and space and then Harnessing that motion For the greater good of the whole Let's look at This more in-depth I Would I would say that? Many of the theorists of swarm theory of chaos theory Tell us that we all of the things that we need in order to act in Dynamic groups Self-organized decentralized groups is are in place except for one thing and that's a common value system Postmodernism broke down the hierarchies of society made it so that we no longer have Value systems in society are no longer valued essentially and that's a good thing because it brings it brings up the minority Brings the minority group to to the center of of society and gives them an equal playing field with The majority right but at the same time it destroyed all those value systems that that were inherent with the hierarchy that was present so With that issue at hand, I'd like to to move towards something That I feel is a solution to that problem Here you see mission control and that my solution to this problem it deals with this this idea the idea is that The self-organization must happen with low localized synergistic value-based groups Self-selection is key and the value-based So Organization is key so with with the postmodern society and values being devalued There that becomes an issue So there's a necessity to re invigorate society with value systems to recognize the value systems that we currently have capitalized on those systems and move forward as self-selecting groups that that adhere to these value systems so Not one group is necessarily More important than the other but but those people who have the common common value systems need need to be able to a self-organized To make these decentralized organization systems possible. You see this an example of this in chat forums, you know like Twitter groups and and You know all all these types of medias, but I I think that those are are passive approaches at a prop at at Self-organization to me this mission control situation becomes a type because the way to get these self-organized groups is to make them mission critical and The way that you can make a mission critical situation is through that value system the value system drives the the criticality of the mission and therefore these self-organized entities Will then have a trajectory So the value system is critical once you identify the value system, then you're able to move forward with it so let's look at something that I Have coined positive parametricism and I'm going to tear tear apart this this term and Dissect it for a second positive coming from the prefix of positive Psychology dealing with the move away from diagnosis or focus on the negative Psychological situations in the world. We're moving towards embracing and understanding the the positive psychological Emotions that we have in our life diagnosing those learning how to to understand them learning how to enhance them and Moving towards an assertive study instead of a regressive or a Study that that's reactive so and then the second term Parametricism, okay, wait, excuse me. So so let's look at Abraham Maslow who Originally called psychology to this This move of positive psychology Forgotten for many years and then C. Ligman Marty C. Ligman reintroduce the idea later Abraham Maslow said let let us as a cycle psychological Group move up the the hierarchy to a self-actualization, but let's do it within our Profession, let's actual actualize the profession of Psychology and move to a positive psychology and that's where Marty C. Ligman came in and we see this being proliferated in business schools and all sorts of the also all sorts of different societies and disciplines and organizations in the world this this positive adaptation to things and applying an assertive mechanism as opposed to a regressive or a Regressive situation now. Let's look at parametricism. It's a really pixelated image, but this is Patrick Schumacher on the on the left And Zaha Hadid on the right both architects Zaha Hadid is British and of Arabian royalty and Patrick Schumacher is her lead architect and he and they're involved in Something that I call they they call parametricism and parametricism is Parameter-based design, so it's looking at Using the parameter or using parametric modeling to create opportunities five minutes. Okay to create Create different solutions for one design problem and then taking the best of those solutions from their parametric modeling and Then and then moving forward with that. So let's look at positive parametricism. Well actually so Patrick Schumacher he states parametricism is a style and I submit that there is deeper principles That are able to be applied than just a style and let's look at that. So here is a basic breakdown of hierarchies of Different of the way that people organize their belief systems and I say that That let's move away from the style back to the ideological level and let's analyze that so Here we see Parametricist positive parametricism broken down into parametricism, which which is what Patrick Schumacher brings forward value-based spontaneous organization or positivity which is a Maslion principle and We get through some basic principles for positive parametricism Dynamics Dynamics become key important fundamental and and let's look at some examples of that here We have an example of a dynamic model This is a model from Cohen Pettersen and Fox where they looked at this is ultimately the design of a Train terminal, but they're looking at sun patterns and using these points of reference to you to do dynamic modeling with it Here are some examples of my own some screenshots from from some particle Dynamics modeling that I used as a form-finding generator for Some architectural projects that I've been I work on Now let's look at holistic the holistic nature of positive parametricism. There's a need Well, let's see here within Within the mind there are four different different portions, there's memory perception thought and action so These tenets of positive parametricism fall into those four categories and are holistic in that way and the holistic Holistic portion of positive parametricism is is the need to to address memory to look at the broader scope of things to look at the the minorities as well as the majorities have them represented and come together in Multidisciplinary groups to solve problems then lastly is Is Collaborative before we move on to collaborative. Let's go into holistic for a quick second the title of my speech was Positive parametricism and and phenomenology phenomenology is a study in architecture of The metaphysical properties of space so here's some quick examples or a quick run through throughout history of this this This Phenomenon so here we have Nero with the Domus aria aria and he used his palace as a as a tool for Exploring Spaces for understanding different spaces and as a laboratory for spaces The humanists did the same thing they they tried to create the perfect human space and they were fairly successful at it Not not perfect, but fairly successful next we have The Nuremberg rally and they he the architect there created a virtual space with the spotlights people said that it was a very Emotionally moving event and part of that had to do with the space that they were dwelling in Richard Neutra he would He would diagnose his clients and then prescribe architecture for them we have Christopher Alexander getting into the dynamics of cities and how House how metaphysics and and the city Correlate and then we have dynamic modeling in today's world through many many examples and Then so and then lastly we have collaborative the collaborative nature of positive parametricism these three principles together Applied give us the opportunity to move forward as a race as a superorganism becoming transcending our abilities and Our humanity towards a superhumanality or transhumanism as I would say and through Positive parametricism, I feel that we'll be able to get there and That we as as self-organizing groups will be able to better a tackle better tackle the problems that face the world today Thank you


We got good news folks, a tentative agreement has been brought up by the MLB and the MLB players association. So it looks like baseball is back, both parties got to agree to it, we got to sign, we got to do all this stuff, it's got to be professional, right? And then baseball will be back. So yeah, baby, baseball is back. All right, go Brewers!


Hello friends and how are you all today? The question says the diameter of circle in millimetre drawn in a design are given below. Now here the diameter and the number of circles which we are given, we need to calculate standard deviation and the mean diameter of the circle. So for this let us draw a table. Now we need to find out x i which is lower limit plus upper limit upon 2 and that is giving us 34.5. Then we have 38.5 that is 37 plus 40 upon 2 then we have 42.5 then 46.5 and 50.5. Now here let us assume the mean as the middle value that is 42.5 as e and h that is the difference between the consecutive number of x let us take it as equal to 4. So we will find y i by subtracting x i sorry by subtracting a from x i and dividing it by h that is taken to be as 4. So we have 34.5 minus 42.5 divided by 4 giving us minus 2 then in the same manner we have minus 1, 0, 1 and 2. Then we need to find out f i y i and that is 15 into minus 2 minus 30, 17 into minus 1 minus 17 and so on. Then square of y i that is 4, 1, 0, 1 and again 4 and then 15 into 4, 60, 17 into 1, 17, 21 into 0, 0, 22 into 1, 22, 25 into 4 giving us 100. Now we need to sum them so here the sum comes out to be 99 whereas here it is 25 and the sum of all the frequencies are 100. Now we need to find out mean as well as a standard deviation. So to find out standard deviation firstly we need to find out variance also. So we have their formulas as so we have mean as equal to the summation of f i x i and that is equal to a that is taken to be 42.5 plus h that is 4 into we have 25 by 100. So on simplifying we have the mean as 42.5 plus 1 giving us the answer as 43.5. Now here we have the variance equal to 4 square upon 100 square into 100 into 99 minus 25 square. Let us simplify it further. So we have 16 upon 10000 into 19900 minus 625 that is further written as 16 upon 10000 into 19275 and that is equal to 30.84. Now to find out the standard deviation we need to find out the square root of variance that is under the root 30.84 that is equal to 5.55. So the answer to the session is the value of mean is equal to 43.5 standard deviation is equal to 5.55. Right this completes the session hope you enjoyed it have a nice day.


Yes. So we are in 1st John chapter 3. We will now look at verses 10 to 12. If we could have someone read out verses 10 to 12 in 1st John chapter. 11 also faster? From 10 up to 12. For this is a message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. We should not be like King who was of the evil one and murdering his brother. And why did we murder him?  Yes. Okay. So here we see that John is trying to show how can we know whether we are children of God or children of the devil? Who is a true Christian? Who is a fake Christian? So how can we tell the difference? So here the argument that he presents is that anyone who does not do what is right, that is they are living in disobedience, they are living in outright sin, they are doing whatever they want to do. And they are saying, oh, we are sinless, we are incapable of sinning. So these actions of ours, they are not actually sinful. Okay. So people who are doing that who are not living in obedience, we automatically know that they are not true Christians. The other argument he presents is people who also are not living in an attitude of love towards the family of Christ. Such people also are not true believers. So again, you know, we need to remember he's not making general statements just like that. He's talking in a very specific context. He's talking about this issue which has come up where this Gnostic Christians are making all kinds of allegations. And so he's very, very specifically thinking about that. What the believers are facing right now in the church because of all the accusations being made by the Gnostics and by all the strategies and schemes that they are coming up to pull away more and more people from the church and you know, take them into their Gnostic system. So it's against all of this that he is writing. Okay. So these are not just general statements statements that he is making. He's trying to clarify this particular issue. So he says, how can we know in the situation in which you are living right now in your church? How can you know who is a true Christian and who is a fake Christian? You will see that these people who are going around and saying all kinds of high, mighty things. But when you look at their lifestyles, they're living in sin. And they have the, you know, temporary to say, no, no, no, this is not sin. We are incapable of sin. Such people know for sure that they are not true Christians. And the other thing he says is, you will observe that these people, even though they are, you know, they claim to be having some superior relationship with the spirit of God, they are not living in love. Why? Because they're separating themselves from the church. They're making accusations. They're saying that you people are inferior. They're doing all of that.  And is that the attitude of a true Christian? So he says, another way that you can know whether they are true Christians or fake is that it can very, very clearly be seen that they are not willing to love all the other believers and be with them. They're very big on words. They're very big on these new theories that they're coming up with. But when it comes to the actual practical lifestyle, are they living in love? Are they reflecting the compassion of Christ in their everyday walk? So he says there is no attitude of love. In fact, they are living in a hostile manner and making all kinds of allegations against other believers. So such people, automatically you should begin to be aware that such people are not true Christians. And he goes on to give an example. He says, Cain was like that. Cain was like these people who do evil things, who live an evil lifestyle. And so they automatically hate those who are living a righteous lifestyle. So they automatically feel this hostility towards those who genuinely belong to God.  So watch out is what he is saying. So it says over here, we should love one another. For this is the message you heard from the beginning, we should love one another. So do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? There's a reason why he murdered him. Why did he murder him?  He did not want to be exposed as doing evil things. He did not like it. Look at the interesting point which John is making here. He says, why did Cain murder Abel? Did it have something to do with sacrifices?  If you repent and do what is good, you also will be accepted. So the issue over here is not just something about sacrifices. There's something deeper.  Why do you not do good? If you do good, you too will be accepted the same way Abel was accepted. So over here we come to the core of what Cain was angry about. He was very very angry that God was not accepting him and God was clearly pointing a finger and saying, your lifestyle is evil. It is sinful. It is not good. And that really upset him. On top of that God approved of his brother and declared him to be righteous and we have other scriptures which support this. We will look at even those verses but the main point that is being brought out here is that those who are living in wickedness and they are trying to pretend that they are righteous. When their double standards are exposed, it makes them upset and they have this hostility towards those who are truly righteous, who are not practicing hypocrisy and double standards but really standing for God, they can't stand that. It makes them angry. So just to kind of touch a little bit very briefly on this whole Cain-Abel thing because it's been brought up over here. Both of them come and make their offerings and people come up with all kinds of elaborate explanations about why Cain's sacrifice was rejected and why Abel's sacrifice was accepted. One popular argument is that Abel brought a blood sacrifice. He brought a lamb. On the other hand, Cain just brought grains and so that was not acceptable. Now, we do not know exactly what instructions God gave them regarding the offerings. If we are to think that they were giving a Thanksgiving offering where Abel was bringing out of the gratitude of his heart and Cain supposedly was bringing out of the gratitude of his own heart, they would obviously bring whatever they have in their hands.  Cain, on the other hand, is not a shepherd. He is a farmer. He grows crops. So he would obviously bring whatever is his. Moreover, we see in Leviticus chapter 2 verse 2 and in other places that grain offerings were considered a pleasing aroma by the Lord. God is not upset that one person is bringing a sacrifice from his line of livelihood and the other person is bringing his offering from whatever profession he is practicing. So that probably is not why God was upset. Also, another thing that is said is that maybe Abel brought a really nice fat lamb. On the other hand, Cain, maybe he just brought something substandard. But then we can see how much Cain values God's approval. He wants to be approved by God. So obviously, he would not have brought something substandard and something that is half rotten. He would have brought his best crop, I'm pretty sure. So that probably is not why God says no to him. Also, there are some people who say that Cain must have brought a... They say that Cain brought a sacrifice but Abel brought a gift because that is the way the translation happens in the Old Testament Greek translation, the Septuagint. It refers to Abel's offering as gift. The word gift is used. On the other hand, Cain's offering is referred to as a sacrifice.  So Cain must have brought a sacrifice. On the other hand, Abel just gave a gift, which means he doesn't take back any of it home. All of it stays over there in the presence of God. Now again, I don't know whether it's a very valid argument, simply because in the Hebrew, original Hebrew where the verse is given, Genesis 4 verses 4 to 5, both of them have the same word being used. Both of them are called gift. Cain's thing is called a gift. Abel's offering is also called a gift. So, which is why they say that what actually made Cain unacceptable was his lifestyle. The way he was living was not right. So it was irrelevant what he is bringing. Whatever he brings will be automatically irrelevant because he is not bringing his heart. He is living an evil lifestyle, but he is just trying to make an offering. Now let's look at another verse which can maybe back up what we have said. Of course, we have a very clear explanation given over here in 1 John itself, where you have verse 12. 1 John 3 verse 12 where it says, why did he murder him?  So he did not like that. In Hebrews 11-4, it says, By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks. So Abel was a man of faith. He trusted in the Lord. He obeyed the Lord. He lived in a way that pleased the Lord because he had completely placed his trust in God and wanted to be under him. So obviously in contrast we would have to say that Cain was not a man of faith. He was not trusting in God. He was not following God's ways. He was not living in a way that would please and honor God. So when he brought his sacrifice, God considered it unacceptable and God in fact gives him a second chance and says to him, why is your faith downcast? If you do well, you too will be accepted. So all you have to do is change your lifestyle, start doing righteousness. You too will be accepted. But Cain instead of repenting, he decides instead to go in the opposite direction and take out his anger against his brother. So over here, John is telling, Don't be perturbed. Don't be disturbed by the terrible things that these Gnostic Christians who are in an influential position, they are treating you so badly but do not be disturbed by them and do not be attracted by them because these are people who are not people of love. They are like Cain. They in fact dislike anything that is righteous. They in fact have a hatred towards the things of God. So do not be troubled when they say bad things about you. It is to be expected.  And also do not be attracted to them because if you go to them, you will discover that they are not a people of love. There are people who do not have the love of God in them. So do not be misled by them. So this is one very important teaching that he is trying to bring out to the true believers in the church. So moving on to the next thing that maybe we can look at, what are real believers like? What kind of a love do they show? You see, it's very easy to talk love but then when it comes to actually living out a life of love in that kind of a lifestyle, that involves much more. And so I think this passage is very valid. It was not just valid in John's day. It is very valid even now. If I claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ and if I say that I love the family of Christ, how am I expressing it? How am I expressing my love? It has to show up in my actions. It's not enough to just talk. So if someone could read out this chunk and even as we are reading this passage, I want us to look at what Jesus is saying over here through John. What is the Holy Spirit teaching us about how love should be shown? So if you are loving in this kind of a manner, then yes, you genuinely are behaving like someone who belongs to the family of Christ. So 1 John 3 verses 16 to 22, if someone could read out and if the rest of us could just pay attention to what is being said. By this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the worst goods and sees his brother in me, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abiding him? Let us children, let us not love and work or talk but indeed in truth. By this we shall know that we are proved and reassured our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we will seek from him because we give his commandments and do what pleases his commandments and do what pleases him. So here it says, if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? So these fake Christians were probably in that category. They had money in their hands, they had influence on their side. But when they saw people in need, their own brothers and sisters in the Lord, they were not doing anything for them. And then it goes down to say, you know, okay, yeah. So in verse 18 he says, Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth, you know, in genuineness is what he's saying. And in verse 19, this is the teaching that he is giving us. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. He says, you know, you need to make sure that you are living in the truth. When you go into his presence, your heart should be at rest in his presence. You should be able to say, okay, my heart is not condemning me. So how can you have a heart which is at peace when you go into his presence?  He is a God of love. He wants to reach out to those who are in need and provide for them and help them. So when you go into his presence and you feel this restlessness in your heart and your heart is saying, you're not reaching out in love and being generous, then you better do something about it. So he says, if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.  His heart is a heart of great compassion and much generosity and you are supposed to imitate him. So don't follow your carnal heart which wants to hold on to your positions, which doesn't really want to let go, which doesn't really want to be generous. Do not follow your heart which is little and narrow and restricted in its thinking, but rather realize that God is greater and he knows the motives of your heart.   It will condemn you in case you are not living actually in love. You will sense it and so when you sense that, you know, take action. Bring yourself in line with him so that your heart can be at rest regarding this matter. On the other hand, if your heart is not condemning you, it means that, you know, you are living right. You are living in love with people and you are being generous. If that is the case, you can be confident and ask God for whatever you need because in the same way you were, you know, compassionate enough to provide for others. Now he will in the same way, compassionately provide for you. So you see in a way, what you are, you know, giving out to others, the measure in which you give out to others, it will be given to you in the sense how much compassion are you exercising in your interactions with the other fellow believers. In that same measure, God will also, you know, give to you. Of course, God is more generous than that. You know, even sometimes when we are miserly and unhelpful, he still helps us. But there's an important point being made over here when you go into his presence and your heart is stirred up about this thing. It says immediately take action, be at peace with him regarding this matter because God knows everything. He knows the motives of our hearts. And in the same way, we are being compassionate and generous towards others. He too will be compassionate and generous towards us. You know, when it comes to our prayers and our requests and our needs, very, very important passage, you know, and we can see a reference to this even in Deuteronomy chapter 15 verses 7 to 10, because they say that most probably, you know, John was picking up these principles that he's teaching over here. He was basically picking them up from Deuteronomy 15, 7 to 10. If you could turn in your Bibles to that, you don't need to read it. I'll just kind of highlight a few things. But the very, very same things which we talked about just now in 1st John, you know, chapter 3, the very same things you see them being mentioned over here in this Deuteronomy passage. So Deuteronomy chapter 15 verses 7 to 10, you know, in Deuteronomy 15, 7, it says, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards those who are in need. The exact opposite is mentioned in 8. Rather, be open-handed and freely lend them whatever they need. And then in verse 10, it says, Deuteronomy 15, 10, it says, give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart. Don't give it grudgingly because you have to. You've been ordered by God and now there is no choice. Don't do it that way. Rather, give it generously because the Lord has been so merciful to you with your prayer requests. Whenever you went to Him, He gave you lavishly, generously. Now show that same love to others as well, you know. So it says in Deuteronomy 15, 10, do so without a grudging heart then because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. So a very important vital teaching is being taught over here, you know, by John. He is saying, don't be like these fake Christians. They are big on words. When it comes to lifestyle, pathetic, they're very stingy. They have very hard hearts. Their hearts are not even moved by the pain that they see. So do not be like them. So having said that, just to add a word of caution or maybe a word of wisdom, whatever, you know, there are people who take advantage of this. They will go on and on asking you for financial support, but they will not get a job and begin to work. So if you see that, do not encourage laziness. God never supports laziness. If you open your book of Proverbs, he will use the harshest words about laziness. So never encourage someone's laziness. If they are genuinely in need and you are in a position to help them get back on their feet. So the thing to remember is don't just keep giving people fish. Teach them how to fish so that they can stand on their own feet and do their own fishing. Anything that you can do to help a person get back on their feet, please help them. And if they're in the process of trying to get back on their feet and they're still in the process and they have not reached, you know, got a job or something. Yes, very, very much help. Be very, very helpful.  No, that would be a very, very wrong way to go about it. So if someone is trying to get on their feet or do whatever you can to help them. But never, ever encourage laziness is what I would say from my side based on practical experience. Yeah. Another thing that I thought, you know, we could really talk about was this verse because again, there's a lot of controversy regarding this. So we've, you know, we just quickly come over here into chapter four. And the passage that I have in mind is chapter four versus seven to nine. So if someone could please read out, you know, first John chapter four versus seven to nine. Yes, ma'am. First John chapter four, seven to nine. Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Here it says, you know, we let us love one another for love comes from God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.  And you know, if his sperm or in other words, his Holy Spirit is living in you, then you should be something like him. You should be imitating him. In fact, your heart should be like his heart. So obviously it is very, very essential that we should live in love and we should show our love to those who are in need. And then it goes on to say, how did God demonstrate his love? He did so by sending his one and only son into the world that we might live through him.   We would be destined for hell. The only reason that we have of an eternal future in God's presence is because he sent his one and only son. And now the main problem over here is the way this particular term is translated. It has led to a lot of, you know, doctrinal confusion and it has unnecessarily brought us criticism from the Muslim community which say, oh, you're saying that God gave birth to Jesus, is it? Oh, that means he has a wife sitting somewhere and okay, what kind of a God is that? And there's a lot of unnecessary, you know, controversy that has been stirred up just because the translation was wrong. Okay, so we, I would really like to just touch upon this even though it may take a few minutes. So over here, the Greek word used over here in our chapter 4 verse 9. It says, this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his monogamous son into the world. Okay, God sent his monogamous son into the world. And KJV mistakenly translated it as only begotten. Okay, the only one given birth to, the only one given birth to, okay, would be the literal meaning of that. So that's the kind of wording that they used. And of course, even NKJV now continues to use that same word. But if you will notice in almost every other version, they are using the other term. They'll either just say only son or, you know, NIV tries to say one and only son. It's trying to bring out the actual meaning of the word. So NKJV, why are they still holding on to this term only begotten? Why do they translate this as only begotten? Because they believe that this word monogenes is derived from the root word genao, G-E-N-N-A-O. Okay, they believe that this word monogenes is derived from the root word genao, G-E-N-N-A-O. Because that particular word, that root word, it means to give birth to. Okay, but most scholars today will point out that monogenes is not derived from genao, but rather it is derived from another root word, a different root word, which is G-E-N-O-S-J-NOS. Now anyone from a science background would be actually familiar with this word genus species. You know, something which belongs to a particular genus or a particular species. So, their argument is that if monogenes has been derived from the word genao, then monogenes would have had two Ns in it. Because G-E-N-N-A-O has two Ns, monogenes would have been M-O-N-O-G-E-N-N-E-S. But that is not the case. If you look at in your Greek Bible, you will see that the spelling used over there is M-O-N-O-G-E-N-E-S, only one single N. So, the root word is not genao, which is giving birth to, but rather the root word is genus. So, what would, how would we understand that? It would be mono is of course one and the genus would be your, you know, your species or your kind. So one kind, you know, one specific category, one specific type or kind would be the meaning. Just to, you know, bring out a little more clarity regarding this, Hebrews 11-17 is a big help in understanding this. Because that, you know, it uses the same word over there for Isaac. And that really helps us. So if you could have someone read out Hebrews 11 verse 17. Is anyone here? Hebrews 11. Go ahead. By this is love perfectly. Hebrews 11-17. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son. Okay, so over here, it's the very, very same word that is being used. He was in the process of sacrificing his monogeness. Now we know very clearly that Abraham did not have only one begotten son, right? It's the very same word over here, monogeness. So over here, we will not translate this only begotten because we know very, very clearly that Abraham begat two sons. This was not, Isaac was not his only begotten. There was one more begotten, you know, which is Ishmael. So he had two sons. Then why on earth is Isaac being called only son? Because you see, he's the only species, the only kind of this type of son. Because this particular son is unique, he's different. He's one of a kind in the sense, God says, it is through him that I will make my covenant. Which is what it says in the next verse, Hebrews 11 verse 18. Even though God had said to me, said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. So this covenant will be established, the covenant which God is establishing with Abraham. I am choosing one particular specific son for that purpose. Through him, this covenant will be fulfilled. And so that son, I'm talking about that particular son, you sacrifice him the only kind or the unique kind. You know, if you were to literally translate the word monogenous, the one, the unique, the only species of his type. Okay, so like that in that sense, Isaac, so you can't just, you know, if Abraham had 10 sons, he can't go choose whom he wants to sacrifice. He has to sacrifice that unique type, the one which God has his eye on. So in that sense, Jesus, who was sent by God into the world, he is one of a kind son, that unique son. Not like any other, we are all children of God, right? But he is monogenous. He is one of a kind. He's one separate species and none of us is actually like him.  So ethically, we will become like him when we see him, but we will never be, you know, from the very beginning without origin, always existing divine. No, we would never be that. So over here in this verse where God demonstrates his love, it is saying he sent his unique son, his one of a kind son. You know, that son is sent into the world so that we can have eternal life through him. It is not talking about God begetting or giving birth to Jesus. That term is simply not at all used, all right? So it just helps if we can know that because if someone from the Muslim community brings up that particular argument, we can explain to them and tell them. You see, that was just a mistake made in one or two translations. On the other hand, now we know, you know, a lot of work has been done, research has been done to show that the root word that was taken was not janao. The root word was genus, which basically is talking about one of a kind, one type, one species, that sort of thing. Something unique, something, you know, which is different from the others. So we could maybe, you know, answer along those lines if such an argument were to come up. Yes, brother, go ahead. Yes. Very quickly, Pastor, an observation and a comment. Number one, John 316 that we very, very much know that says, for the gospel of the world, that he gave. So it's not only begotten, it's just only son.  I do not want to answer that. Okay, okay. But if it is the same thing, because I presume we have established that is the same John who wrote the Gospel of John. There's writing this. So for on consistent basis, I believe maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe after you check, if it's the same thing that it just goes to prove the authorship of both books. That's why I just wanted to observe. Yeah, I mean, who knows what if it monogenes is not used over there. I'll have to check that because only then you know, you can just go to Bible hub and look it up. So then the clarity would be there. So it's a very good question. I had not thought about that verse while preparing for this. Yeah. So let us see. And I'll put it in the stream page because you know, all of us who are in Google have access to the stream page. So I will post the answer over there without fail, maybe by the by evening or something. So you will be able to know all of us will be able to kind of look at that. I will throw light on that later. Oh, yes. Just moving on to another thing that I wanted to touch upon, which would actually be in our chapter five. Okay, we have 10 minutes, right? All right. So in chapter five, you know, I'm not I'm not talking about many other things which are mentioned in chapter four simply because there's a lot of repetition. John is really pouring his heart out. He's bringing out some main specific things.  And then the third main theme that he keeps talking about again and again is that, you know, because we have been given the spirit, we must, you know, follow what was told to us by the spirit originally. These are the main concepts that keep running again and again. So I have not gotten into all of those because it would become a bit of a repetition for us. So coming over here into the fifth chapter, after having said all that he has said, now he says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. So you know, he's like now like kind of reaching his conclusion tree.  They know that they are perfect in the spirit, but they know that, you know, at the mind level, they would still need to work on themselves. So you know, he's just bringing out all of these facts and then having said all of those things, he assures him and says, see, because I know and that is why I have made a clear presentation of everything.  So he wants them to have that assurance that they are in the family of God, and that they have nothing to fear. And then he goes on to talk about verses 14 and 15, if we can look at. Yeah, someone could read out chapter five verses 14 and 15. From this is the confidence that we have to write him that if we ask anything going to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have access to him. Yes. Now, NIV says this is the confidence we have in approaching God. But actually that's not very accurate because over here that word that is Greek word that is used over here, it just literally means the constant confidence we have with God. Okay. So maybe that just that word with would have been a better translation. Okay. If you could just give me a minute. Yes. So if we were to literally translate that Greek word over there, rather than saying we have rather than saying approaching God, we would just say with God. This is the confidence we have. You know, when we are in him, when we are with him probably would be a better term because that's the same term that is used for, you know, describing Jesus in John 11 where it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. So that same term which is used over there is used over here. This is the confidence we have with God. You know, when you're literally in with him in his presence, when you're in his presence, we can have this confidence that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Okay. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him. So here are the word here, which is used over here. It's not talking about just someone who is hearing a sound, but rather it is talking about someone who hears and immediately reacts and responds to that and reaches out to, you know, do what is being said. So it's not talking about passive hearing where you hear a lot of sounds around you, but it's talking about active listening where you reach out to the person who is asking and you do something for them. So we can have this confidence that he's not just simply hearing in a passive way, but rather he's actively listening to what we are, you know, requesting and he will help us. So it's a very beautiful thing that he's telling these believers who are very confused or worried whether they are part of God's family or not. And John is saying over here, you can be confident that if you are in the presence of God, that if you are with him, your needs will be taken care of. Whenever you open your mouth, whenever you ask for anything, he's actively listening and he will reach out. He will give you what you have requested. So have this assurance. Do not be afraid. Do not wonder whether you're part of his family or not. So he is giving them this assurance. Another thought we can maybe just take away from this is we have verses which talk about how you should go into God's presence and place your requests before him. Of the most popular being in Hebrew 4 where it says go boldly to the throne of God. So yes, we are meant to go to him with our needs, but another way that we can see it is we don't just go to him. We are always with him, always in his presence, the same way the word was with God throughout eternity, always in his presence with him. We too actually are like that. So it's not like I said, you know, we are carrying all these burdens on our own.  We don't have to look at life that way. We are always with him in his presence. He is carrying the burdens. We are just walking in step with him on a day to day basis and we just open our mouths and we talk to him and he listens to what we are saying and he responds. So we don't have to think of it as a lonely, difficult, hard life where we are carrying all these Christian responsibilities and we go into his presence with our burdens and we lay it down in front of him.  It is so difficult. On the other hand, don't picture yourself going into his presence. How they just picture yourself as always being with him because that's literally the Greek used over here. This is the confidence we have with God when we are in his presence. You're constantly there with him. He is constantly aware of what's going on in your life.  Whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him. So that's this deep assurance that we can have in his presence. Ouch, we are almost out of time. If I thought maybe we could really look at verses 16 and 17 because there's a lot of unnecessary controversy around these verses. And they're actually very, very simple because people generally pull them outright out of context. They have not gone through the entire first epistle of John the way we have gone through it. We have not looked at the background. They are not aware that these poor believers were struggling because of the Gnostics. The general believer is not aware of these things and so they just pull out verses 16 and 17 and get really confused about the whole thing. When actually there is nothing to be puzzled about over here in these two particular verses. So verses 16 and 17, if someone could very quickly read out those two verses please. Anyone see this brother? Pranik Singh has saved my leading to death. He is asking God to give him life. To those who come to sing that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrong doing is sin but there is sin that does not lead to death.  He touched upon it already in chapter one. He said there will be times when you will sin. When you will fall because you still have an unrenewed mind. It will happen. When that happens, go to the Lord. Seek repentance. Confess your sins and God is just and faithful and he will forgive. So over here he is basically saying that he is wrapping up all the things that have been covered. So this is like a summation and he is saying. So when you see a brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death. You should pray and God will give them life. So here he is talking about believers, brothers or he is talking about people who are part of the family. So he is saying they made a commitment to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus became the propitiation for their sin like it says in 1st John chapter 2. So we are not talking about these fake Christians. We are talking about true believers who made a genuine commitment to the Lord. They believed in the teachings which Jesus had originally taught and the Holy Spirit has confirmed that to them in their heart. They are standing upon the truth and so the sins which they are committing are not sins leading to death. They are already part of the family of God. So these sins which they are committing, yes, what they are doing is sinful. They must repent and when they do that God will forgive them. So these are not sins leading to death in the sense all of their sins have already been paid for and washed away by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. So anything that they do tomorrow, anything with any sin that they commit next week, that sin does not lead to death. Your next week sin does not lead to death simply because the atoning sacrifice already has finished washing away all of those sins and God's wrath is not against you any longer. So please pray for these believers. Pray that the Lord would forgive them that they would get back on their feet and the assurance given is that they will be given life. Resurrection life, when the rest of the believers receive it, they too will receive resurrection life because these people are feeling scared whether they are part of God's family and they are worried what's going to happen to them. So John is assuring them and telling them the sins that you do do not lead to death. There's a propitiation that has been made for you. You are now righteous. So do not be afraid. You will have life.  So you are in the family. You have nothing to fear. Go ahead and intercede for one another. Support one another in prayer so that you will remain strong and not sin. But if you sin, you will still be forgiven. You can still have resurrection life. But there is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. He clearly clarifies. He says and so he again clarifies and says all wrongdoing is sin. And there is a sin that does not lead to death. So the things which the believers are doing, yes, it is sinful. But the propitiation of Christ has already taken care of that. So your sins will not lead to death.  On the other hand, these fake Christians who are doing the sinful things that they are doing, those sins will definitely take them to their death. No point in interceding for them because if you intercede for them, those sins will not just simply be removed because they have to first of all come to Jesus and say Lord, we believe that you were fully human and you were fully divine and you actually went on the cross physically and made an atoning sacrifice for us. They have to admit all of those things which they are denying right now because of their Gnostic background. They would need to make that full commitment only then can their sins be forgiven. Otherwise, the sins which they are doing are definitely leading to their deaths. No point in offering a prayer for them because they are headed for judgment unless they submit to Christ and actually accept all the truth about Him. So it's just basically talking about that. It's not talking about some great mysterious hidden sin that leads to death and another kind of sin which does not lead to death. It's nothing mysterious about this passage. It's just talking in line with what He has already said throughout His epistle. I'm so sorry I've eaten up your time. I'll just say one sentence of prayer and we'll close. Lord Jesus, we just thank you so much for the things that we could cover today and Lord, I pray that all these important lessons, you will bring them back to our minds as and when we require them. Bless the students of Lord even as they work on all of their final assessments even as we are wrapping up the semester. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much for being patient and yes, we will log off right now.