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> Shiny carbon is shiny carbon to me You're only considering intrinsic value. That's helpful for raw commodities. For nearly everything else, value is tied to
by jaaron 3y ago
> Shiny carbon is shiny carbon to me
You're only considering intrinsic value. That's helpful for raw commodities.
For nearly everything else, value is tied to perception, history, etc.
If I have two identical baseballs, they're both "just" baseballs. But one of them could have much more value due to its history: maybe it was a homerun ball by a famous player, or a ball that I or a family member hit/caught. Same function. Could be otherwise identical, but could also be worth very different amounts.
The stories we tell is where the primary value is.
In this case, your wife values the story of a natural diamond that was formed through long, natural processes and required the effort of finding, excavating, cutting and so on.
Now you could disagree with that story, or you could dislike the tellers and amplifiers of that story, but the fact remains that your wife and many others value that story, making it more precious than merely "shiny carbon."
This is branding and marketing 101. Humans are storytelling machines and they understand value largely via stories and relationships. Misunderstanding that is a failure to understand essential human characteristics.
- slashdev 3y agoYeah, that makes sense. It’s not about the function, that’s for sure. > Misunderstanding that is a failure to understand essential human characteristics. I’ll add that to the list of human behavior that I don’t really understand.
- fragmede 3y agoThat seems supremely othering. Do you have people in your life that you value over humans you don't know? What are the people you know, over the people that you don't, other than them being a meat bag that you know stories about, vs a meat bag that you don't?
- llsf 3y agoAt least people can tell their story I suppose, while a diamond cannot really once mounted on a ring (I guess you can get some certificate that tells a story, but it is not something obvious when looking at the ring). Note: my engagement ring cost $12.00 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TIGRADE-Titanium-Polished-Wedding-Comfort/dp/B01B5TLUIA https://www.amazon.com/TIGRADE-Titanium-Polished-Wedding-Com...
- jmccaf 3y agoFor traceability, cut diamonds are laser enscribed with serial number or makers mark visible by inspection with jewelers magnifying loupe.
- llsf 3y agobut it does not seem visible to the naked eye when looking at jewelry... I guess with more lab made diamonds we will come to appreciate the geological beauty of it, and have bigger diamonds for the same price.
- slashdev 3y agoI have no idea what you mean by that.
- mongol 3y agoYeah this is very true. You have a painting, the artist may be Picasso, but uncertain. Suddenly it is confirmed it was Picasso. Same painting, different price.
- Nursie 3y ago> In this case, your wife values the story of a natural diamond that was formed through long, natural processes and required the effort of finding, excavating, cutting and so on. I see this come up a lot, but I doubt very much that this story forms a large part of many people's thinking. People want the status symbol and they want what they perceive as the ‘real’ thing, not what they rightly or wrongly perceive as an imitation. As such ‘natural’ diamonds currently have successful marketing around them. I really don’t think the geology figures in many peoples minds. Geologists excepted of course. Humans are indeed story telling machines, but you know what else they are? Hierarchy-driven apes who love showing off shiny, expensive shit to make themselves appear high status. The emergence of chemically, physically identical synthetic diamonds has triggered this in really very predictable ways - rationalisations of prior behaviour and desperate searching for ways to utilise this new phenomenon to maintain or elevate status. The story here is a prime example. When both 'prettier' and 'not real' can no longer be defended, a new rationalisation for the large outlay of cash, and new explanation of how this makes the outlayer special, must be found. It doesn't have to be true (please don't try to tell me that all women have some sort of innate appreciation of carbon geology, I'm sorry but I don't believe it) it just has to sound right and allow the teller of the tale to continue to claim the high ground. Because otherwise we have to face up to questions like "Did I spend all that and not prove I'm better than Bob who spent half as much?" and "Was I just doing this because of peer pressure and societal expectations? What does that say about me?"
- jaaron 3y agoWell put. For simplicity, I was considering "story" as part of the "status" side too (i.e.- there's a story here that I'm better than you for these reasons). I know it's Hacker News, but come on folks, it's not that hard to understand that marketing, branding, storytelling and whatnot are real, meaningful forces in human dynamics.