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Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#241

Post by lettergram »

joeblau wrote: post #65

Random diamond story! As a freshman in college, I took a geology class and our teacher asked all of the women in our class to raise their hand if they would rather have natural or human-made diamonds. Most of the women (over 80%) raised their hands for natural. The reasons they gave all seemed to tie back to branding and natural diamonds being “real.” Then our teacher gave another analogy. He asked if people would ra…

While I personally don’t think natural diamonds are any more valuable than synthetic. I understand the scarcity and way it’s used to show status (similar to cars, we don’t need great ones).

That being said, what I actually took away from that comment... was that the teacher in geology class was presenting effectively political argument as opposed to teaching. Explaining the process of fine, but given what you described — I bet no one changed their mind about synthetic vs real. Most knew what the “correct” answer was. I think everyone kinda knows about synthetic diamonds, they just don’t care. Same way plastic bottles are better for the environment, yet are still used widely.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#242

Post by Draken93 »

cyberpunk wrote: post #3

Married members of HN, what did you do if you think diamonds are utterly ridiclious however due to societal constraints some kind of ring is required for your SO?

I did not know that marriage rings with diamonds are so important in the US. In Germany it is pretty common to have plain gold/silver rings.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#243

Post by [deleted] »

simonh wrote: post #71
Nursie wrote: post #35

Good for them. It's literally the same material, and we can now use scientific and engineering advances to remove the need for people to toil and die underground to get them. Hopefully the process is more environmentally friendly too. They are real diamonds. I find it hi-goddamned-larious that the moment these became viable, the industry switched from "Diamond purity is the be-all and end-all and you must have the cl…

If the best option available to people was diamond mining, by taking that away from them we’re by definition pushing them into an even worse option. That’s a big problem I have with a lot of the do-good commentary on developing world labour. Taking away options from people, even bad ones from our point of view, isn’t necessarily doing them any favours. None of these peoples options are going to look good to us. Actua…

[deleted]

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#244

Post by toxik »

djdjdjdjdj wrote: post #43
toxik wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I considered marriage and we even filed half the paperwork, but I decided against it because it would end up in the public records that I am married, and to whom exactly. So, I didn't marry out of infosec concerns.

You are not kidding? While I personally would find this very weird, from an infosec perspective, having a relatable backstory should make it easier for you in regards of infosec. With married status you can conceal things probably better than not.

If your threat model includes you disguising as someone else, sure.

If your threat model includes crazy people stalking you, my decision is justified.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#245

Post by throwaway0a5e »

Kalium wrote: post #234
globular-toast wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stunning argument.

There's no need to flatter blatant sexism with the dignity of honest argument. Indeed, there is nothing to be gained by doing so.

> There's no need to flatter blatant sexism with the dignity of honest argument. Indeed, there is nothing to be gained by doing so.

If you think it's so out of line then why engage on that same level by replying with a bunch of "nope"?

I fail to see how his comment is blatantly sexist. If anything it's insulting both sexes equally and craps on the institution of marriage more than anything else.

Yes, his comment was unnecessarily cynical and we all know how well that goes over here when not directed at an approved boogeyman (BigCo, Congress, etc) but you can easily walk that cynicism back by replacing "down payment" with "signalling commitment" and "sex" with one of the other upsides to a stable marriage and the meaning is unchanged.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#247

Post by Draken93 »

Jiejeing wrote: post #40
cyberpunk wrote: post #3

Married members of HN, what did you do if you think diamonds are utterly ridiclious however due to societal constraints some kind of ring is required for your SO?

I am curious, is the diamond thing a US-centric trope? I do not know anyone here who genuinely cares about that sort of thing, generally people want some discreet metal ring. It may be a precious ore to symbolize the commitment but otherwise I have not seen anything outlandish among my friends or family members who got married.

In Germany it is not a thing either. Discreet gold/silver rings are much more common. I like it, it is less decadent and you can wear the ring every day.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#248

Post by dboreham »

rndgermandude wrote: post #224
heliodor wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current narrative is more along the lines of, "How much work should your fiancee spend on declaring his commitment to you?" The societal answer is at least two months. Salary is the convenient measure for this. The ring is the communication medium.

>The societal answer is at least two months. Might be an American thing? My parents spent about 1 month worth of my dad's salary on two wedding rings a long time ago. My dad actually wanted to buy a far more expensive ring for my mom, but she insisted to keep it simple and "cheap" and "unproblematic" to wear. Same story in the rest of the family. Friends (usually a lot younger than my parents) spend even less on ring…

It's an American rich person thing.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#249

Post by rstupek »

humanrebar wrote: post #181
coddle-hark wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anyone, other than geologists of course, really care about the back-story of the diamond, how it was created and how it was mined? Yes, very much so, as is the case with all lifestyle products. People want to believe that they’re buying something special.

Someone should pay celebrities to wear specific jewelry with lab created stones to galas and awards ceremonies. Then resell the pieces, or even just the stones, at a premium since they were worn by . Then folks would be buying something ethical and more glamorous. Maybe philanthropic donations could be associated to revitalize areas hurt by the diamond industry to further tell a story for the celebrities and consumer…

Funny you mention that since that's how diamonds became the thing women desired in the first place

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#250

Post by [deleted] »

rndgermandude wrote: post #224
heliodor wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current narrative is more along the lines of, "How much work should your fiancee spend on declaring his commitment to you?" The societal answer is at least two months. Salary is the convenient measure for this. The ring is the communication medium.

>The societal answer is at least two months. Might be an American thing? My parents spent about 1 month worth of my dad's salary on two wedding rings a long time ago. My dad actually wanted to buy a far more expensive ring for my mom, but she insisted to keep it simple and "cheap" and "unproblematic" to wear. Same story in the rest of the family. Friends (usually a lot younger than my parents) spend even less on ring…

[deleted]
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