3 ms·
I understand what he’s saying, but he doesn’t get it.
by Horffupolde 3y ago
I understand what he’s saying, but he doesn’t get it.
- squigz 3y agoGet what?
- vkou 3y agoHe doesn't get that a cartel manufactured a social ritual of conspicuous consumption (and a fairy tale to go with it).
- Spivak 3y agoI mean it is, but you can break it trivially as an individual. There's no network effect, actually there's an anti-network effect. My partner and I were patient zero for non-diamond rings in our social sphere. I got alexandrite and she got a green sapphire. The rings are stunningly gorgeous, unique, nothing at all like you would find at at Zales or whatever and less than half the price (which is good since we needed two :P) Our friends and family were obsessed and not six months later I got a text from a now engaged friend who wanted to know how we found them. He also opted for a green sapphire because it matched her eyes. Non-diamond rings sell themselves, someone (and it can be you) just needs to break the seal.
- SamBam 3y agoThat the diamond industry has convinced people that the amount of money you spend show the worth of your love? Tell you what, I can set up a website that sells moissanite for 10x their retail price if you like. Give me a day to set up a Square account and you can buy from me.
- eru 3y agoBuying from your website might burn the requisite amount of money, but it wouldn't be conformist enough. Signalling conformity with social norms is also important to some people.
- fyokdrigd 3y agothat guy selling glass with a Russian royalty like name in every mall around the world beat him to it anyway
- xp84 3y agoThat place always confused me. I was like, "So what's this stuff made of? Uh huh, okay, and why exactly are these tchotchkes and brooches and stuff worth this much?"
- eru 3y agoWhat is the Mona Lisa made of, and how much is it worth?
- Dylan16807 3y agoIt wouldn't be worth much if there were a million of them and none had a credible claim on being original.
- Horffupolde 3y agoThe diamond ring has no utility, so there’s no calculation to make. It’s an irrational proof of commitment.
- eru 3y agoProof of commitment can have utility. And status symbols can have utility. (Going on a tangent: compare Bitcoin's proof-of-work, which also has utility. Of course, that doesn't mean diamonds nor proof-of-work are the best bang-for-buck. For the latter, you can use proof-of-stake or avoid cryptocurrencies altogether. For the former, there are plenty of other social arrangements that avoid diamond rings.)
- friend_and_foe 3y agoYes, but giving something worthless but expensive is not a real tangible proof of commitment. "Here is something I paid too much for" is less meaningful than "here is something very valuable." Something valuable says if you are bad to her you'll lose out and she will have something to show for the commitment she reciprocated, something expensive that isn't valuable says I'll behave how you want to keep you around. In India they give gold jewelry, that makes a lot of sense. Their cultural reasoning about it is very different (it's a financial investment that ties families together) but the act is better IMO.
- eru 3y agoYes, gold (or gold jewelry) holds its resale value better than diamond rings.
- xp84 3y agoJust realized: A big fat diamond is a literal Proof of Work.
- eru 3y agoEspecially since it has so little resale value.