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South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
121–130 of 177 posts
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right but I heard that the recipient of the donation was the Epstein-Trump Boarding School For Children.
Well, I heard it was the Epstein-Trump Boating School For Children, which taught vulnerable youngsters how to get away from Epstein’s child-rape island.
Unfortunately, you misheard. It was the Epstein-Trump Motorboating School For Children, and what was taught was...not what you said.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#123We are being deprived of future Elon Musks as we speak. This needs to be curbed ASAP. The Elon Musk pipeline must be sustained. Our futures depend on it.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I knew someone who was an economist for a major jewelry company and he said ~15 years ago that the writing was on the wall that lab grown diamonds were going to decimate their sales. He wanted them to start promoting them and be the more ethical and green alternative. He did not last long there.
It's almost like he's undermining the one single thing the diamond sales industry had used to thrive for nearly a century before him.
Since the company itself didn’t mine diamonds and basically just took the market rate, his estimate was that they could achieve even better profit margins with lab-grown diamonds and would be positioned well even with eventual market competition. Given some other stories he had about the company, it sounds like they were more interested in not rocking the boat than long-term profits.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
there's nothing holy about eating real animals (unless you're religious) i'm no vegan, but if identical lab-grown alternatives are available at near same cost without the hormones, antibiotics, emissions, I'll take it
Identical is the point here. The test of 'identical' to me is going to be mass production with economies of scale. I surely don't have the equipment to test whether it's identical, nor would I trust the marketing.
What does that have to do with the price? If it's mass produced, widely available, thoroughly tested, and the same price as regular meat, why wouldn't you prefer it?
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
The quartz watches are (way) better at time keeping. And the rest is just a matter of paying for luxury. The main reason the analogy doesn't really help is that the mechanical watch market absolutely cratered, and it's only being propped up by enthusiasts of cool machines. Diamonds can't really have that. They've already scammed the general population into using slave diamonds at monopoly prices for 30 years longer t…
It's a poor analogy because mechanical watches and quartz watches aren't perfect substitutes and aren't purchased for the same reasons. Everybody's phone keeps better time than a watch; absolute accuracy isn't the exclusive measure. Lab diamonds and mined diamonds are literally identical products.
> and aren't purchased for the same reasons
Yes, that's his point. Quartz watches have eaten the market for "I need a cheap portable time piece", like artificial diamonds did for "I need diamonds for tooling".
Both mechanical watches and natural diamonds have therefore been pushed into a niche market of posers and the easily-influenced, who buy them for different reasons than the mass market.
> Lab diamonds and mined diamonds are literally identical products.
No, mined diamonds are inferior for any industrial task due to their flaws and weaknesses.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#127This took way longer than I hoped & expected... the DeBeers cartel in full damage control has really squeezed everything they could from it.
Well, they have at least one way to extend their market's lifespan at this point. They can double down on the provenance and openly claim the flag "product of artisanal slavery".
I'm sure there are enough hard-right wingers who will happily flaunt their wealth and disdain for other human beings.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Identical is the point here. The test of 'identical' to me is going to be mass production with economies of scale. I surely don't have the equipment to test whether it's identical, nor would I trust the marketing.
What does that have to do with the price? If it's mass produced, widely available, thoroughly tested, and the same price as regular meat, why wouldn't you prefer it?
Everything in history that was mass produced was priced more than an order of magnitude lower than the 'original'.
I don't see artificial meat being the first exception to this. I'd see 'same price as meat' being an indication of something going wrong here.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#129We are being deprived of future Elon Musks as we speak. This needs to be curbed ASAP. The Elon Musk pipeline must be sustained. Our futures depend on it.
Do your homework. This has been debunked. Also, it was about emeralds.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#130Its not gonna be just diamonds, pretty much every gemstone is subject to the lab grown stuff. Im into gem cutting as a hobby so its been great for me to find stuff like these cheap ruby roughs[1] but yea, its gonna fuck up anyone selling the natural stuff. [1] https://www.etsy.com/listing/4443524661/lab-grown-red-ruby-s...
That's actually super cool. I wouldn't have even considered that you could buy a fist sized block of ruby for $40. Sounds like a fun hobby.