281–290 of 314 posts
Except the old cartel. (Which, btw, artificially limits supply of mined diamonds)
There were attempts to do the same in the US fifteen years ago -- see for example "Apollo Diamonds." Maybe this time it'll stick?
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Possibly a key indicator of a quality SF idea / author -- how much closer we are to their universe a decade or two later. I've loved everything Neal's written, though I may begrudgingly agree with various critics that suggest he really doesn't do endings very well (REAMDE and Anathem are much, much better on this front). I've tried recommending various books of his to different friends, and I've concluded that I have…
REAMDE was his first book that I read. I was totally captivated by the book, but I hated the ending. That's one of his good endings?
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In Napoleon's day it was more expensive than gold. By the time the Washington Monument was constructed the price had dropped to roughly the level of silver. Titanium might be poised to follow in its footsteps after the discovery of electrolysis of titanium oxide in molten calcium chloride, analogous to the cryolite process.
IIRC the difficulty with titanium was not in the production, but rather the difficulty in machining the metal afterwards.
Titanium stock is at least 5x more expensive than steel at retail, so I think the material scarcity is still the major problem.
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Baseball has been moving away from lively metal bats. Too dangerous for the infield. Never ending debate when I played 6A baseball in HS. Now, slow pitch softball had Ti bats in the early 90's that added 10 mph. Even then some of the new composite materials out hit Ti.
> Even then some of the new composite materials out hit Ti The issue is one PEOPLE DIE because of these bats and balls. (I'm old but I was one of maybe three people that could hit a home run now all 10 players can) 1) The other bats were so thin that you had to rotate the bat when you hit because the bats bend or will break. The ti bats are durable and you can still sue them. The issue is nothing really is better tha…
>"The pitcher’s mound for amateur slow-pitch softball varies according to the field and age of players, but is generally between 40 and 50 feet from home. This means that after a ball is hit, assuming an exit velocity of between 78 and 102 mph, the pitcher has between 0.456 and 0.350 seconds to react to a batted ball. Adding exit velocity shaves precious micro-seconds off that time. That was what made titanium bats so dangerous. Softballs became missiles and pitchers became targets. And the dangers are real. Players have lost teeth, eyesight, motor function, IQ points and even their lives when struck by balls hit off hot bats."
https://www.sbnation.com/2015/8/5/9041099/the-bat-doctor-is-...
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How does this hypothetical wider set of people know your diamond is de beers approved? Do you keep the price tag on it? Or do you just talk about how, obviously, you'd never stoop to buying man-made diamonds?
Assuming they talk about how they prefer “real” diamonds, the latter. Similarly, people on the other side signal their association by talking about how they’d never buy “real” diamonds.
Can't argue with that.
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> They’re called fake because they’re artificial, not because they have more flaws (...) give credit to the other side’s point: they have a reasonable and internally consistent argument The only thing I credit them for is being ruthlessly manipulative. "Fakes" is not a neutral word. It was very specifically chosen for its emotional baggage, similar to "pro-lifer" or "franken-foods". It is an emotional distracting pie…
You’re taking away a lot of agency from people who prefer natural diamonds. Yes, of course their marketing campaign set off the industry, but the reason it worked is because many people are already predisposed to prefer natural things over artificial things. What you’re calling “emotional baggage” is a subjective preference for some things over other things. It’s only doublespeak if you subscribe to a literalist form…
"Fake" means something isn't what it's claimed to be.
A piece of glass cut to look like a diamond is a fake. You make like it or not, but it isn't a diamond. A diamond is a mass of carbon in a particular structure, and glass isn't.
A lab-grown diamond is not fake. It is, in fact, a diamond.
If people want to distinguish between "natural" vs "synthetic" or "mined" vs "grown" diamonds, fine. But "fake" is truly a misleading term here.
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Photorealism was the ultimate goal of artists, until that became easy.
That's true but I think part of it is also that once we achieved photorealism, we began to realize that photorealism isn't everything.
Ten years ago I actually tried to buy a synthetic diamond engagement ring. My wife is a geek, I thought she would think it was cool. The jewelry store was offended when I asked.
I just don't get it. Who cares what the source of a diamond is? Isn't the point of a diamond its beauty in the eye of the beholder? If I had a big diamond I would definitely want the cheapest one possible with a visual aesthetic I like. Fortunately, my wife and I don't like diamonds and we have purple sapphires in our wedding bands.
> I just don't get it. Who cares what the source of a diamond is? Women's cultural conditioning and arguably human nature. It being a completely unnecessary but very costly sacrifice to the man is the feature, not a bug. It doesn't need to have intrinsic value, all that matters is that it is an accurate signal of excess wealth. There are those (like you and your wife) who see past this, which is great, and I hope thi…
They just make do with wedding bands and wear nothing before the ceremony. Seems like the engagement ring is a phenomenon very specific to some western countries.
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This is why I like Vernor Vinge - sci-fi authors tend to have a scientific focus based on their background, e.g. physicists tend to focus on physics world building - because he is a computer scientist and is capable of expressing ideas around that at many different levels.
Yeah, Fire upon the Deep had literally the best first chapter of any AI-based scifi book I'd ever read (I listened to the audiobook). I really wish Vinge would revisit that universe - Deepness in the Sky was great but it was a prequel of sorts.