RE: markup race

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

Given this from Cavalli:

"To a very superficial examination, races exist, in the sense that some
groups of individuals are distinguishable and relatively uniform for a few
superficial traits."

he notes the use that is common in database systems that rely on 
observable physical characteristics for identification (again, an 
issue likely to bedevil HumanML is the applications to identification 
systems because they are at the core, a means to isolate by 
category).

If we retain race codes for reasons of interoperation with existing 
systems, we should clearly describe the application or semantic 
of the code as one of identification based on observable physical 
characteristics and note that this does not infer any other genetic 
or cultural trait.  Such relationships could be declared under 
stereotypes where the modeling is clearly artificial.


Len 
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
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