Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 270 posts

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#251

Post by slashdev »

fragmede wrote: post #113
slashdev wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that makes sense. It’s not about the function, that’s for sure. > Misunderstanding that is a failure to understand essential human characteristics. I’ll add that to the list of human behavior that I don’t really understand.

That seems supremely othering. Do you have people in your life that you value over humans you don't know? What are the people you know, over the people that you don't, other than them being a meat bag that you know stories about, vs a meat bag that you don't?

I have no idea what you mean by that.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#252

Post by euroderf »

gnicholas wrote: post #31

I wonder what the second-order consequences will be. That is, people will still want to signal their commitment/ability to provide when proposing, so the drop in the price of diamonds won't necessarily reduce the overall outlay. Instead, it would shift the expense to another category (platinum or other expensive metals) or simply lead people to buy more carats (4 is the new 2!). In some ways, these moves could help l…

As recently as a century ago, other stones like emeralds also functioned as engagement/wedding stones.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#253

Post by freetime2 »

andrewflnr wrote: post #156
thaumasiotes wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This crystal isn't impure - it's just full of pockets of an alien substance"?

When you said the water was "impure" in your previous comment, no one thought you meant it was sullied with... air. While not technically incorrect, if you honestly thought "impure" was a good way to describe water with air dissolved in it, the best I can say is to watch out for your subtext when using a word much differently than basically anyone else does.

I don’t think referring to dissolved gas in water as an impurity is all that uncommon. To quote wikipedia:

> Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water. The goal is to produce water that is fit for specific purposes. [1]

Other sources list carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen as impurities that can cause corrosion in pipes [2], or can form bubbles in systems where there are major changes in pressure or temperature, blocking pumps, fine tubing, filters, etc. [3]

So it’s a bit context dependent, but there are situations where it is totally reasonable to view dissolved gases in water as an impurity. And this context - the discussion of what makes ice clear or cloudy - is one of them.

How can you claim so confidently that “no one thought” something, or that the parent is “using a word much differently than basically anyone else”? If you honestly think that you speak for all 1.35 billion English speakers in the world - or even all the people reading this thread - the best I can say is speak for yourself.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

[2] https://www.watertechnologies.com/handbook/chapter-01-water-...

[3] https://www.elgalabwater.com/dissolved-gases

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#254

Post by Tostino »

intrasight wrote: post #207
kemayo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not clear to me what reason a rational person has for NOT getting divorced after enough time has elapsed that alimony is possible. I mean, assuming that you like your spouse, it's a perfectly rational decision to stay with them despite it being possible to make money by leaving them. It's economics-paper level sociopathy to suggest that "I could maximize my personal income by divorcing the person I love" is an…

>It's economics-paper level sociopathy Indeed. Ask my ex-wife (an economist) how that worked out for her.

Thanks for the laugh. I really wish this type of thinking weren't so common in the population, but the fact is, it is pretty common. You need to account for it.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#255

Post by Someone »

conductr wrote: post #98
Someone wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it's mandatory that every lab-grown diamond above a certain carat are laser-engraved https://www.gemsociety.org/article/lab-grown-diamonds-faq : “Many lab-made diamonds have an inscription that identifies them as lab-made. Diamonds can also have a lab report number inscribed on the girdle” I think it’s very likely that, If that “above a certain carat” were true, that page would have mentioned it. I also can…

Because the GEM Society is a business that wants to 1) continue grading diamonds and 2) begin cataloging lab diamonds. Both of which are revenue sources.

The claim I replied to was (emphasis added)

> I think it's mandatory that every lab-grown diamond above a certain carat are laser-engraved

That’s not “diamonds that are lab-grown by GEM Society members”.

Why would it be reasonable to require anybody who’s not the GEM Society to engrave their products, so that the GEM Society can protect its source of revenues?

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#256

Post by ethanbond »

bigbillheck wrote: post #73
ethanbond wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure the coffee you drink and the tshirts you wear and the phone you use are all ethically sourced eh? We’re all deluding ourselves for the sake of sanity + having nice stuff.

Are you telling me I can get lab-grown coffee and t-shirts that avoid the nastiest parts of the traditional processes? As for phones, I'm on a used iphone 6. That doesn't make its original sourcing any better, but harm reduction is still reduction

The utility of a diamond ring is not to have shiny rock. It’s meant to be an expensive useless thing to demonstrate that you/your partner can spend money on expensive useless things.

So a shiny thing that’s less expensive actually doesn’t satisfy the same role.

A shiny thing that’s just as expensive but less valuable (ie lower $/karat, ie lab grown) is so large as to out itself as not-the-truly-ridiculous waste of money that a real diamond is supposed to be for its signaling value.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#257

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

hinkley wrote: post #80
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have read that the distinguishing feature is that natural diamonds have flaws. Entrapped dirt or what have you that is not found in the sterile environment of the synthetic ones.

Like honey, the inclusions are the only thing that distinguish it from counterfeit.

Well, I am definitely one of the 10,000 because I just started reading about the counterfeit honey market.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#258

Post by andrewflnr »

freetime2 wrote: post #253
andrewflnr wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you said the water was "impure" in your previous comment, no one thought you meant it was sullied with... air. While not technically incorrect, if you honestly thought "impure" was a good way to describe water with air dissolved in it, the best I can say is to watch out for your subtext when using a word much differently than basically anyone else does.

I don’t think referring to dissolved gas in water as an impurity is all that uncommon. To quote wikipedia: > Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water. The goal is to produce water that is fit for specific purposes. [1] Other sources list carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen as impurities that can cause corrosion in pipes [2],…

Yes, I used very slight hyperbole with "no one". Counterexample found, film at 11. A few highly technical contexts don't change the point: If someone holds up a flask of water and says "this is impure", what's at the top of the list of possible impurities in your mind, and how far down the list is air?

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#259

Post by munificent »

Vt71fcAqt7 wrote: post #120
munificent wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What do you suppose is the value that distinguishes these two processes? The story? Of course it is the story. The value in everything is the meaning we attach to it, not the thing itself. With a natural diamond, it's the idea that you have a unique artifact formed over millions of years, an irreplaceable corner of the Earth and its history owned by you and you alone, which then suggests that you yourself have a ce…

>it's the idea that you have a unique artifact formed over millions of years No it isn't. There are plenty of ugly diamonds — they are also formed over millions of years and are never sold to consumers. This is an ad hoc justification. People only cared about the beauty of the diamond until lab made ones came along. They are cut to increase the beauty. That already makes it processed. Nobody buys uncut diamonds. And…

> This is an ad hoc justification.

It is ad hoc, yes, but is not the only justification.

Diamonds are also rare (unlike olivine) and clear diamonds are pretty (unlike ones with lots of inclusions). We can like things for multiple reasons.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#260

Post by OkayPhysicist »

typest wrote: post #104

I just got engaged. When we looked at rings, the jeweler asked my fiancé if she wanted natural or synthetic, and she responded “I don’t want a blood diamond!!” Of course, mined diamonds aren’t blood diamonds, but her impression was still they were a little ickier. The jeweler told me that one reason to get a natural diamond was that the prices of lab grown diamonds had been falling, whereas natural hasn’t as much, so…

Actually, right now there's a significant chance that mined diamonds are blood diamonds. Russia took over the international diamond industry after the collapse of DeBeer's monopoly, and naturally they claim any conflict they're involved in doesn't make their diamonds conflict diamonds, but on the other hand Wagner is being paid in mineral extraction rights for their actions in some very bloody African conflicts.
Post reply on HN