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Diamonds Suck

diamondssuck.com

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Re: Diamonds Suck

#41

Post by saiya-jin »

Thomashuet wrote: post #33

I have an even cheaper solution: just don't buy a ring. It all depends on what your partner wants obviously. If it's important for your partner to get a diamond ring and you value your partnership more than the cost of a diamond, then buy a diamond. If your partner wants a "I'm married" sign (as my wife did), just buy a simple wedding ring without a stone. If it's not that important for her, don't buy a ring.

Its actually a good indicator of a character. Not everybody fits you or me, or even can actually sustain long term cca happy relationship. You want an expensive ring? Why? Just because herd mentality obviously isn't good enough response when drawbacks are numerous and often pretty sinister.

When I was still in the dating game, I wasn't one of the desperate ones who needed to f*k desperately at all costs. Rather I was every single time looking for potentially working relationship, so evaluating compatibility and if I found obvious or already-known showstopper I finished it quickly. But how do you evaluate that when initially people automatically wear layers of politeness masks? Some of them even after years.

Well just wait for first conflict and misunderstanding to happen, and how the other side reacts when emotions are high. Masks are off, raw personality comes forward in bad situation. You just have to be realistic and also think how it would look like if tables turned.

Or don't, but I prefer to at least try to bring some smart into this highly emotional game, I mean divorce rates hanging uncomfortably around 50% come from something (my wife doesn't have any natural bloody diamond on her ring, we talked about it like mature people beforehand and both agreed we won't go that way)..

Re: Diamonds Suck

#42

Post by johnnymorgan »

tecleandor wrote: post #29
exitb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people buy expensive watches, even though there are visually indistinguishable clones on the market. I still don't think that a fake Rolex makes for a great gift. I don't really want to advocate for diamonds here. I hate that it's mined at the expense of human welfare. I just want to point out that this article is 17 years old and not much has changed since it was written. Maybe it's not a compelling take?

I think watches can be a bit different... At least expensive watches retain more of their value, or even go way up in the case of Rolex. It's true that for some, a big appeal of a good watch is the "implementation" or the mechanics or electronics that go inside, or the craft on creating it. And others use watches more as jewellery. But there's always somebody that use them to "show off": while some people will buy a…

People using watches as a store ify value is more a commentary on the state of fiat financial networks.

A Rolex has scarcity value, and can act as a deflationary asset is what's at play there.

I do believe they are having a correction right now as the luxury market starts to bottom.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#43

Post by shiroiuma »

ghayes wrote: post #32
kristiandupont wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded of this tweet: "it's actually crazy we figured out how to grow real diamonds that are cheaper and better quality than the real thing and so many people are still like, no thanks the suffering is what makes it special." https://twitter.com/missmayn/status/1612892354624786444?lang...

I don’t love that tweet because it’s not the suffering, but the fact the diamonds were naturally grown in the Earth. Put another way: why would anyone buy sea salt when can we produce pure NaCl? (This is not to say you can or should ignore the suffering caused by the diamond industry)

Sea salt is NOT pure NaCl; that's the whole point of eating sea salt! It has significant quantities of other minerals, such as calcium chloride and potassium sulphate. That's why sea salt tastes so different from regular table salt.

The reason people buy sea salt (made by evaporating seawater) or table salt (made by mining deposits left from prehistoric seas), is because no one produces these things artificially. There's no good economic reason to do so when you can just dig it up or dry out some seawater: making it artificially would be more expensive.

The same economics don't work for diamonds, for various reasons.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#44

Post by davidhalter »

dbrgn wrote: post #40

I, as a European, cannot fathom how anyone would spend a significant amount of money on an engagement ring! The engagement rings we got ourselves cost 18$ and were made from wood. After all, they only need to last a few months, or maybe 1-2 years, until the wedding. Regarding the wedding ring, I can understand slightly better how someone would put a bit more money into that, considering that you wear it for life. But…

Same here. I still cherish my 5$ wooden wedding ring. There's such beautiful wooden jewelry out there.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#45

Post by GTP »

shiroiuma wrote: post #39
Thomashuet wrote: post #33

I have an even cheaper solution: just don't buy a ring. It all depends on what your partner wants obviously. If it's important for your partner to get a diamond ring and you value your partnership more than the cost of a diamond, then buy a diamond. If your partner wants a "I'm married" sign (as my wife did), just buy a simple wedding ring without a stone. If it's not that important for her, don't buy a ring.

This of course is true and makes sense, but you could also say the same thing about eating dinner in a restaurant: you could save money by skipping a meal, or by getting a frozen meal at the supermarket. A restaurant meal at a decent restaurant isn't that expensive (though it is pretty bad in the US these days; other countries are much better). A ring doesn't have to be expensive: you can get a nice titanium ring for…

Number 3 seems a good idea for a 007 movie :D

Re: Diamonds Suck

#46

Post by quickthrower2 »

exitb wrote: post #2

To an engineer's eye this might make sense, but the significant cost of a diamond is actually the very point of buying it. And it's hardly an odd thing - the history of human civilisation is littered with examples of spending for the sole purpose of being able parade the purchase.

A synthetic diamond for the price of a natural one and the rest goes to a good cause would be great. Some kind of certificate of authenticity to go with it.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#47

Post by quickthrower2 »

stared wrote: post #23
exitb wrote: post #2

To an engineer's eye this might make sense, but the significant cost of a diamond is actually the very point of buying it. And it's hardly an odd thing - the history of human civilisation is littered with examples of spending for the sole purpose of being able parade the purchase.

It makes sense to waste resources on purpose (e.g. buying overpriced gemstones), at least from the evolutionary perspective - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle . Yet, the world would be better if the same amount could be burnt on something with better externalities. If jewelry, then hand-made one.

Diamond were the original cryptocurrency

Re: Diamonds Suck

#48

Post by quickthrower2 »

vasdae wrote: post #16

Imagine wanting to marry someone and buying a ring with a rock that pretends to be a diamond but is worth <10% of what a diamond costs.

Ok I get ya. Need to spend $20k or whatever. But why a diamond? So many other things you can spend that on that would be a nice keepsake.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#49

Post by pzs »

exitb wrote: post #10
omnicognate wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's news to the author, but even on those terms it's not a great purchase to "parade" if its visually indistinguishable from something with a fraction of the price.

Some people buy expensive watches, even though there are visually indistinguishable clones on the market. I still don't think that a fake Rolex makes for a great gift. I don't really want to advocate for diamonds here. I hate that it's mined at the expense of human welfare. I just want to point out that this article is 17 years old and not much has changed since it was written. Maybe it's not a compelling take?

It took the diamond industry several decades (and huge investments) to build their carefully crafted public image that translates into diamond purchases nowadays. These efforts are still in progress today. I am not sure if there are similar powers and interests behind the moissanite industry to match that.

There appears to be some cultural change happening around smoking. It is very slow despite the proven causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer. The tobacco industry is working hard to ensure they can continue to operate and transition to products that are (at least perceived to be) less harmful to people. However, the speed of this change does not appear to be driven by the severity of lung cancer threat, but by the lobbying power of the tobacco industry that ensures they don't go out of business while the transition is happening.

Re: Diamonds Suck

#50

Post by dbrgn »

shiroiuma wrote: post #39
Thomashuet wrote: post #33

I have an even cheaper solution: just don't buy a ring. It all depends on what your partner wants obviously. If it's important for your partner to get a diamond ring and you value your partnership more than the cost of a diamond, then buy a diamond. If your partner wants a "I'm married" sign (as my wife did), just buy a simple wedding ring without a stone. If it's not that important for her, don't buy a ring.

This of course is true and makes sense, but you could also say the same thing about eating dinner in a restaurant: you could save money by skipping a meal, or by getting a frozen meal at the supermarket. A restaurant meal at a decent restaurant isn't that expensive (though it is pretty bad in the US these days; other countries are much better). A ring doesn't have to be expensive: you can get a nice titanium ring for…

The decent restaurant is a good example: For the price of a 9000$ diamond ring, you can eat a fancy dinner at a 300$ restaurant every year for the next 30 years of your marriage. And the money is probably spent much better that way. You'll build up memories of shared experiences.
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