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That's a bit reductive. Retail diamonds are usually priced on their size and the maker of the jewelry that surrounds them. There are investment grade diamonds,

That's a bit reductive. Retail diamonds are usually priced on their size and the maker of the jewelry that surrounds them. There are investment grade diamonds, but as the article "Diamonds are Bullshit" that is currently at the top of HN[1] illustrates, appraisers sometimes deviate by 100% on that estimate. However if you buy a $7000 ring from Tiffany and walk out the store to a buyer and can get $1000, it is still storing value. It's just an extremely depreciating resource and unstable. It has value, it stores value, it just fucking sucks at it. If you can find another sucker to pull one over on like the retail shop just did to you, then it holds it fine. I mean, I think I covered all of that pretty well but yeah, to stay it's not a store of value at all just because it's a bad investment is inaccurate. [1] https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bullshit https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bulls...

whack 8y ago
By that definition, just about anything is a store of value. "That Bic pen I just bought at the mall? Store of value" Usually when people refer to something as a store of value, it's understood that it's a good store of value.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  Yeah, that is in line with what I'm saying. This is a bit off the map from my original point about the value of a limited worth resource being held magically in the human suffering required to extract it naturally. My initial point was not that anyone should buy real diamonds at a retail store. Sorry if that wasn't clear. If you would like to have an argument about something that really doesn't matter I would prefer if it was Star Trek related and not "Diamonds as an Investment" related. Submitted for your approval. How does warp drive compensate for the temporal complications of faster than light travel? Earth and the Enterprise all seem to keep the same clock. I'm not convinced they could do that effectively even with the proposed energy output of trilithium. It just doesn't add up. Warp isn't creating a wormhole to punch through subspace, which could account for it (maybe?). Faster than light as a warp bubble stretches space forward and around the ship slinging it to it's destination. After a fun trip to Risa, you would get home and your kids would be elderly. I'm no astrophysicist, but my armchair quarterback understanding says that's the case. Would travelers aboard a starship essentially become gods compared to their planetary counterparts because of temporal perception? They wouldn't age (from the perspective of the planetary occupants) but they would have accumulated massive experience and useful insight while the planetary toil away in the moisture farms. Checking in from time to time, maybe getting 3 visits in the lifetime of their loved ones. Sorry, mixing universes. I think my point still stands. What sort of societal constructs would even grow around something like that? How long before the interstellar separate completely as a different race? My bet is not very long, but I think they would still come back to the planetary frequently as it would be an invaluable information resource for their new Galaxy Class civilization. To keep this debate on the rails, we should probably avoid abuse of concepts involving tachyons. Reverse or otherwise.
- 794CD01 8y ago
  Good can mean different things. A given volume/weight of diamonds will typically be worth much more than an equivalent amount of bic pens, or even of gold, so in that sense, diamonds are pretty efficient.
jjeaff 8y ago
Actually, I think it hold value pretty well. At least a Tiffany ring would. But you need to buy it on the secondary market. Buy the MSRP $7k Tiffany ring for $1k on the secondary market and it will probably grow in value over time. Antique Tiffany has always been pretty sought after.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  Sure. Also once on craigslist a guy traded a paperclip all the way up to a house. This is a pretty big digression from my point. I'm not trying to give investment advice, I just think the concepts surrounding artificial diamonds are interesting and also love a chance to bust out some Star Trek trivia.

whack 8y ago

By that definition, just about anything is a store of value. "That Bic pen I just bought at the mall? Store of value" Usually when people refer to something as a store of value, it's understood that it's a good store of value.

stuntkite 8y ago
Yeah, that is in line with what I'm saying. This is a bit off the map from my original point about the value of a limited worth resource being held magically in the human suffering required to extract it naturally. My initial point was not that anyone should buy real diamonds at a retail store. Sorry if that wasn't clear. If you would like to have an argument about something that really doesn't matter I would prefer if it was Star Trek related and not "Diamonds as an Investment" related. Submitted for your approval. How does warp drive compensate for the temporal complications of faster than light travel? Earth and the Enterprise all seem to keep the same clock. I'm not convinced they could do that effectively even with the proposed energy output of trilithium. It just doesn't add up. Warp isn't creating a wormhole to punch through subspace, which could account for it (maybe?). Faster than light as a warp bubble stretches space forward and around the ship slinging it to it's destination. After a fun trip to Risa, you would get home and your kids would be elderly. I'm no astrophysicist, but my armchair quarterback understanding says that's the case. Would travelers aboard a starship essentially become gods compared to their planetary counterparts because of temporal perception? They wouldn't age (from the perspective of the planetary occupants) but they would have accumulated massive experience and useful insight while the planetary toil away in the moisture farms. Checking in from time to time, maybe getting 3 visits in the lifetime of their loved ones. Sorry, mixing universes. I think my point still stands. What sort of societal constructs would even grow around something like that? How long before the interstellar separate completely as a different race? My bet is not very long, but I think they would still come back to the planetary frequently as it would be an invaluable information resource for their new Galaxy Class civilization. To keep this debate on the rails, we should probably avoid abuse of concepts involving tachyons. Reverse or otherwise.
794CD01 8y ago
Good can mean different things. A given volume/weight of diamonds will typically be worth much more than an equivalent amount of bic pens, or even of gold, so in that sense, diamonds are pretty efficient.

jjeaff 8y ago

Actually, I think it hold value pretty well. At least a Tiffany ring would. But you need to buy it on the secondary market. Buy the MSRP $7k Tiffany ring for $1k on the secondary market and it will probably grow in value over time. Antique Tiffany has always been pretty sought after.

stuntkite 8y ago
Sure. Also once on craigslist a guy traded a paperclip all the way up to a house. This is a pretty big digression from my point. I'm not trying to give investment advice, I just think the concepts surrounding artificial diamonds are interesting and also love a chance to bust out some Star Trek trivia.