5 ms·
Diamonds are precious partly because they're rare. If you find a way of 'making' a diamond it loses some of that value. It's interesting to me that someone woul
by veltas 5y ago
Diamonds are precious partly because they're rare. If you find a way of 'making' a diamond it loses some of that value. It's interesting to me that someone would even try making a comparison between a precious stone and something like water/ice which is mostly desired for utility and not any sentimental reason.
- JCM9 5y agoThey’re actually not all that rare. Big Hope Diamond stones yes, but your run of the mill variety that 99.9% of people have are not all that rare. The “rarity” comes mostly from the the tight grip a small number of companies have over mining and production of raw stones. You can make tap water “rare” if you run the waterworks.
- caf 5y agoIt also comes from selling them as "this is a sentimental item that you should keep forever" and "these are bought as meaningful gifts so it would be gauche to buy one second hand" to limit the size of the secondary market.
- AlanSE 5y agoBut the rarity leads to intensive mining and human rights abuses. There's a good kind of rare (like say, an original painting, bought from the artist) and a bad kind of rare. Sentiments can change. Diamonds will not become unemotional, but the emotional reaction will likely go into reverse soon.
- caf 5y agoThe "rarity" is mostly marketing too.
- ErrantX 5y agoYour comment proves the point on marketing; diamonds are not actually that rare, a lot of the scarcity is marketing plus control of supply by De Beers & others. In fact, Diamonds are some of the most common gems in nature! https://www.gemsociety.org/article/are-diamonds-really-rare/ https://www.gemsociety.org/article/are-diamonds-really-rare/