4 ms·

This is wonderful! I can't comprehend the need to mine for diamonds any longer. Such a dangerous, dirty, damaging practice. It is sad to see that the industry i

This is wonderful! I can't comprehend the need to mine for diamonds any longer. Such a dangerous, dirty, damaging practice. It is sad to see that the industry is trying to paint these as inferior. I would love to see some sort of tariff or sanction placed on mined diamonds to make them restrictively expensive. There is simply no need for them any longer.

sandworm101 10y ago
Not all diamond types/classes are being manufactured. Synthetic diamonds will always be different from natural stones specifically because they lack natural imperfections. Not everyone wants perfection.
- imaginenore 10y ago
  Imperfections can be added
  - ThomPete 10y ago
    Imperfection are naturally formed, you cant naturally create imperfections that just become by definition artficially created imperfections.
    - xorxornop 10y ago
      Well, what if it's done randomly? (like, by software that controls the machine that grows it) Or, modify the growing process so that it has a greater element of chance to it? (this is likely multi-dimensional)
      - ThomPete 10y ago
        Whatever randomization isn't natural (and it can't be completely random as it needs to look natural). But it's not really the point. A diamonds primary value is the history of it's making. People are unfortunately always going to be paying more for a diamond which has been digged out by hard labour than created in a lab. Keep in mind the value of diamonds is mostly a perceptive one. I am pretty sure if you only did synthetic diamonds it would soon fail to be valuable as the "womans best friend"
- justinpombrio 10y ago
  >Not everyone wants perfection. Sure. On the other hand, if the synthetic diamonds were the flawed ones, you'd be saying "not everyone will settle for imperfection".
- gutnor 10y ago
  > Not everyone wants perfection. Really, diamond is one of those stones where it is the less true. Partially because of brilliant marketing, partially because in such a tiny clear stone the effect is mostly to dull it (speaking of it physical characteristics, not the emotional response). That is not the case in Rubies or Sapphires. Emerald is meant to have imperfection.
- bradleyjg 10y ago
  "Not everyone wants perfection." So you went with a "natural" N/I1/fair?
inimino 10y ago
There already is, it's called De Beers. It's exactly because of the artificially inflated price that the mining practices are damaging.
- joering2 10y ago
  Once I learnt more about De Beers, I'm wondering if there is any other product that one could pull of such stunt and make themselves billionaires? Step one - find a rare mineral that at this point has value close to zero. It is rare but worthless. Step two - obtain monopoly on mining it or control it as much as you can (buy spots with dense occurrence, etc) Step three - throw money at important and powerful people (such as Spielberg, so that in his new movie today's Marilyn Monroe is wearing your ore as a form of very high luxury) other media stars, politicians etc. Step four - continue with excellent PR until enough wives or soon-to-be wives come to their soon-to-be husbands and request them to update their luxury status by buying your ore. Step five - collect trillions of dollars across the globe, by tightly controlling your ore and its harvest. Edit: step six - rinse and repeat for 50 years getting yourself even wealthier.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    Creating artifical preference for something peoplease can only get from you is pretty much what the entire field of marketing is about; deBeers may be an outstanding success, but they aren't doing anything (in those terms) fundamentally different than pretty much every business on the planet is trying to do, just with different mechanisms of establishing moats.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - qb45 10y ago
    > I'm wondering if there is any other product that one could pull of such stunt and make themselves billionaires? Maybe not exactly billionaires, but If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion. :)
  - 10y ago

sandworm101 10y ago

Not all diamond types/classes are being manufactured. Synthetic diamonds will always be different from natural stones specifically because they lack natural imperfections. Not everyone wants perfection.

imaginenore 10y ago
Imperfections can be added
- ThomPete 10y ago
  Imperfection are naturally formed, you cant naturally create imperfections that just become by definition artficially created imperfections.
  - xorxornop 10y ago
    Well, what if it's done randomly? (like, by software that controls the machine that grows it) Or, modify the growing process so that it has a greater element of chance to it? (this is likely multi-dimensional)
    - ThomPete 10y ago
      Whatever randomization isn't natural (and it can't be completely random as it needs to look natural). But it's not really the point. A diamonds primary value is the history of it's making. People are unfortunately always going to be paying more for a diamond which has been digged out by hard labour than created in a lab. Keep in mind the value of diamonds is mostly a perceptive one. I am pretty sure if you only did synthetic diamonds it would soon fail to be valuable as the "womans best friend"
justinpombrio 10y ago
>Not everyone wants perfection. Sure. On the other hand, if the synthetic diamonds were the flawed ones, you'd be saying "not everyone will settle for imperfection".
gutnor 10y ago
> Not everyone wants perfection. Really, diamond is one of those stones where it is the less true. Partially because of brilliant marketing, partially because in such a tiny clear stone the effect is mostly to dull it (speaking of it physical characteristics, not the emotional response). That is not the case in Rubies or Sapphires. Emerald is meant to have imperfection.
bradleyjg 10y ago
"Not everyone wants perfection." So you went with a "natural" N/I1/fair?

inimino 10y ago

There already is, it's called De Beers. It's exactly because of the artificially inflated price that the mining practices are damaging.

joering2 10y ago
Once I learnt more about De Beers, I'm wondering if there is any other product that one could pull of such stunt and make themselves billionaires? Step one - find a rare mineral that at this point has value close to zero. It is rare but worthless. Step two - obtain monopoly on mining it or control it as much as you can (buy spots with dense occurrence, etc) Step three - throw money at important and powerful people (such as Spielberg, so that in his new movie today's Marilyn Monroe is wearing your ore as a form of very high luxury) other media stars, politicians etc. Step four - continue with excellent PR until enough wives or soon-to-be wives come to their soon-to-be husbands and request them to update their luxury status by buying your ore. Step five - collect trillions of dollars across the globe, by tightly controlling your ore and its harvest. Edit: step six - rinse and repeat for 50 years getting yourself even wealthier.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  Creating artifical preference for something peoplease can only get from you is pretty much what the entire field of marketing is about; deBeers may be an outstanding success, but they aren't doing anything (in those terms) fundamentally different than pretty much every business on the planet is trying to do, just with different mechanisms of establishing moats.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- qb45 10y ago
  > I'm wondering if there is any other product that one could pull of such stunt and make themselves billionaires? Maybe not exactly billionaires, but If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion. :)
- 10y ago