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Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

theatlantic.com

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Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#51

Post by Zarkonnen »

derefr wrote: post #50
jacquesm wrote: post #48

Spending insane amounts of money on a clump of carbon molecules to declare your love seems to me extremely wasteful. If your s.o. really needs a display of conspicuous consumption over spending your - now joint - funds carefully and wisely you might want to talk it over. Easy come easy go, if you have money left over to throw it out more power to you but most people are not in a position to throw away money like this…

Your point certainly sounds reasonable, but it's not how the human mind works. The point of conspicuous consumption is to make believe that the man is "in a position to throw away money like this", because that (imaginary) man is considered to be a good provider/sexually attractive. Talking about it beforehand would be like telling your kids you were going to dress up as Santa Claus to put presents under the tree—the…

So maybe we need a more grown-up fantasy...

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#52

Post by WorkerBee »

wmf wrote: post #14
paulgerhardt wrote: post #11

Relevant article on the synthetic diamond trade from Wired last year: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html edit: oops I mean 2003; 11.09 was the issue number

From 2003, not last year. Here's a 2007 update: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/start.html

I think the link is wrong - that article is on the Concorde aircraft.

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#53

Post by henrikschroder »

sliverstorm wrote: post #22

Unfortunately, realizing this is not enough. You need your partner to realize it too, or you're out of luck. Good luck presenting a ring of ruby or sapphire; even though they are far prettier stones IMHO, every girl I've met has diamonds stamped into her heart.

Remember that the diamond engagement ring expectation only exists in a few countries. In most of northern europe both partners wear identical plain gold rings, for example.

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#54

Post by paulgerhardt »

WorkerBee wrote: post #52
wmf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From 2003, not last year. Here's a 2007 update: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/start.html

I think the link is wrong - that article is on the Concorde aircraft.

It's on "page 6" of that link. I was confused a bit at first too.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/start.html?pg=6

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#55

Post by henrikschroder »

stbal wrote: post #49

I'm amazed in general at the amount of conformity in people surrounding the whole topic of weddings. Not just the ring (btw, diamond rings for engagement is an American cultural thing as far as I know, in Europe the props are different), but the whole dress code and the mandatory steps involved in the event. Wasn't the future supposed to free us from such conventions? I find it funny especially with people who laugh…

Well, rites are important to us as social beings, and we make them elaborate and heavy with tradition so they feel more important. We've always had them, regardless of religion. There's always a need to mark the occasions of births, adulthood, partnership and death.

Add a bit of capitalist profit-hunger, and you end up with companies doing everything they can to maximize the money people spend on the rites, by manipulating the cultural expectations.

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#56

Post by billswift »

Zarkonnen wrote: post #51
derefr wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your point certainly sounds reasonable, but it's not how the human mind works. The point of conspicuous consumption is to make believe that the man is "in a position to throw away money like this", because that (imaginary) man is considered to be a good provider/sexually attractive. Talking about it beforehand would be like telling your kids you were going to dress up as Santa Claus to put presents under the tree—the…

So maybe we need a more grown-up fantasy...

Fantasies aren't really very grown-up. Maybe more people need to grow up enough not to need so much fantasy.

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#58

Post by gwern »

steve19 wrote: post #41
philwelch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was an eye opening experience for me as a younger nerd, something that taught me how truly irrational many humans are. Diamonds are clearly pretty, but buying them props up a cartel and indirectly leads to warfare, enslavement, and death. Clearly a young woman would happily understand why I would have ethical objections to this... ...and to this day, I don't understand how some people's minds even work. (It was…

It also of course, provides legitimate employment to a lot of people throughout Africa. If people stopped buying diamonds, it would be a disaster for the continent. Saying that, I still would hate to buy something that may have been mined by a slave and purchased by a cartel.

> It also of course, provides legitimate employment to a lot of people throughout Africa.

It's only 'legitimate' and productive because people like them so much; if people stopped liking them so much, then such employment ceases to be legitimate and becomes on par with being paid to dig a ditch and then fill it right back up.

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#59

Post by gwern »

gojomo wrote: post #20
illumin8 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The settlement provides $295 million to purchasers of diamonds and diamond jewelry, including $130 million to consumers." Does anyone think it seems like a very low number? Just $130 million for consumers, considering the cartel has been operating for decades and brought in billions?

Sounds low to me. And the agreement not to monopolize sounds flimsy. But I'm sure the class action legal firms did just fine.

It's really low, when you remember that antitrust violations carry triple damages, not just single. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Damages)

Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

#60

Post by Hoff »

jacquesm wrote: post #48

Spending insane amounts of money on a clump of carbon molecules to declare your love seems to me extremely wasteful. If your s.o. really needs a display of conspicuous consumption over spending your - now joint - funds carefully and wisely you might want to talk it over. Easy come easy go, if you have money left over to throw it out more power to you but most people are not in a position to throw away money like this…

That rock is a form of marital financial insurance policy, should she decide to bail on you for whatever reason.

It's small, portable and relatively fungible.

She definitely knows that, too.

And yes, you could call it a reverse dowry.

Or a spousal hedge.

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