In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep owning a "real" animal was considered a status symbol, since most "real" species had died from radiation poisoning. The p

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep owning a "real" animal was considered a status symbol, since most "real" species had died from radiation poisoning. The poor and middle class could, of course, only afford the synthetic animals. Obviously this isn't exactly like that, but I imagine there will still be a market for mined diamonds and they'd be priced accordingly.