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Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

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Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#301

Post by UncleEntity »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #142
gruez wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And although she understood why there was no real difference outside of price, I think she was very worried she would be judged by other women for not having (or being worth) a "real" diamond. get fake diamond, claim it's real to everyone else. it's not like they can tell the difference, or they will take her ring to get tested.

Oh, I told her I'd ordered a duplicate ring with lab grown stones of identical quality, and she could have them appraised and choose whichever one she thought was better. I haven't been snarled at many times in my life, but that was one of them.

Just think of it as a real 356 Roadster vs a reproduction fiberglass 356 Roadster, one will get a "that's nice" while the other will get a "dude, really!" from your buddies.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#302

Post by romwell »

saalweachter wrote: post #129
kbutler wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Photorealism was the ultimate goal of artists, until that became easy.

Well, there was really a bifurcation in art. Painting and drawing went for various forms of stylized representation, because competing against photographs doesn't interest most people. But you also had a new field of photography , where the focus is now composition . There is a marked difference between the photographs I take and the photographs a skilled photographer takes, even if both are realistic depictions of a…

All discussion aside, I see portrait photography as painting with people.

That is, it's not so much about composition, as it is about using objects around you - people, nature, etc - to paint a picture instead of using paint and brushes.

It's much easier than painting when the picture you see in your head is much like what the camera lens sees when you point it in a given direction.

However, often there's work required to paint the picture you see in your head. With people, it's figuring out what to say to them to make them look the way you see them - to bring out the inner warmth - and to figure out how to capture in a static image what the eye sees over a stretch of time.

Ultimately, with movies we've come full circle: filmmakers often resort to painting (i.e. CGI) instead of photography, because sometimes it's easier just to paint the picture one has in their minds with a graphics tablet than it is to paint it with real-world objects positioned around the camera - even if realism is the goal.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#303

Post by nradov »

jdietrich wrote: post #291
nradov wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's very little actual titanium in titanium bike frames. Most of the cost is in the machining and labor, so I doubt prices will drop much. And the majority of riders seem to prefer carbon fiber anyway.

>Most of the cost is in the machining and labor, so I doubt prices will drop much. I'm not sure why that would be the case. Titanium alloys are only marginally more difficult to work with than aluminium alloys. The tubes are hydroformed and die cut, so the only difference is a touch more die wear. Titanium is a bit finicky to weld, but that can't possibly account for the ~500% price premium over aluminium frames. The…

The point is that a modern titanium bike frame costs at least $1200 even though it contains <2kg of titanium, and high purity titanium only costs ~$50/kg. So I can't see how just cutting the cost of the raw material would have a transformative impact on the bike industry.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#304

Post by alexandercrohde »

sgt101 wrote: post #132

The thing is that these diamonds aren't fakes - they are real diamonds. Also for many years there have been gluts of diamonds and the market has been rigged to keep them expensive. Eventually the flood gates will open and diamonds will get real cheap.

Yeah, I'd like it if the word real was put in quotes in the title of the HN post at least.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#305

Post by vanderZwan »

dsacco wrote: post #294
vanderZwan wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If you're going to leave the debate like you said you would, just do so. But don't reply to my comment with nothing but an irrelevant Wikipedia link - that's extremely dismissive. It's also intellectually insulting, because it presumes that the other party is so poorly informed that the mere mention of a dialectic phenomenon should be enough to enlighten them. This is not whataboutism because I'm not excusing the dia…

> Moreover, what's the point? You must know you're not going to convince me with a low effort comment sending me to a Wikipedia page describing one of the many possible ways an argument can be fallacious. You didn't even both to explain why it applies (which, again, it doesn't).

YES IT FUCKING DOES YOU HYPOCRITICAL TWAT. Obtusity is NOT nuance.

> to honestly criticize the diamond industry, we should criticize the entire market of veblen goods in general.

You're both defending the diamond industry and admitting that they're bad, but saying we are only allowed to criticise it if we criticise everything that has remotely similar workings. That is the whataboutist fallacy

It would have taken you three sentences of reading comprehension of linked WikiPedia to figure this out. I do not for one second believe that you are arguing in good faith yourself sir. Good day.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#306

Post by cptskippy »

ce4 wrote: post #114
cptskippy wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably but I doubt they'll be successful. For decades they've talked about the flawlessness and purity of diamonds, now faced with a superior product they have to change everyone's minds. They could go the granola from the earth natural route but unlike organic farming, which evokes images of the stoic farmer, their image is of conflict diamonds and exploited children in dangerous mines. Couple that with the fact t…

I wouldn't be so quick to say that they won't succeed - their marketing has been managing the public opinion about diamonds for 7 decades. Neither blood diamonds, environmental issues nor the (false) perception of scarcity has brought them down yet.

It's only been in the last couple decades that those things have come into the public consciousness. It can take decades to change perception, especially with something like diamonds that aren't usually purchased by or for kids.

Those kids growing up in the 90s who heard about all the shit DeBeers did and continues to do are now of the age where they would be a customer and they aren't buying. The up and coming generations certainly don't value diamonds either.

I would bet that in 15-20 years the market will decline significantly further and the artificial diamonds are only going to hasten that decline.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#307

Post by cptskippy »

Brakenshire wrote: post #208
cptskippy wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably but I doubt they'll be successful. For decades they've talked about the flawlessness and purity of diamonds, now faced with a superior product they have to change everyone's minds. They could go the granola from the earth natural route but unlike organic farming, which evokes images of the stoic farmer, their image is of conflict diamonds and exploited children in dangerous mines. Couple that with the fact t…

> They could go the granola from the earth natural route but unlike organic farming, which evokes images of the stoic farmer, their image is of conflict diamonds and exploited children in dangerous mines. I wonder whether they could go a fair trade route, focus only on communities which could be improved, and give them a small slice (which would make an enormous difference). It would require a change in approach, not…

They're called conflict or blood diamonds for a reason. The controlling interests in the regions of Africa where most diamonds come from employ slave, child, and forced labor in mines.

If you want a fair trade diamond you need one that's certified to have come from somewhere like Canada.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#308

Post by Jedd »

caconym_ wrote: post #222
nvarsj wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest checking out Dan Simmons. He's like Neal in many ways (lots of world building, interesting scifi), but I think a better writer and story teller. I picked up Hyperion based on a review of Seveneves, which suggested the third part was a pale imitation. It and Ilium are amazing.

+1 for Dan Simmons and especially Hyperion. It is more what I'd call "science fantasy" in my personal classification system, but it's an amazing book, in my top 5 for sure.

Thank you both for the recommendation - Hyperion's now queued up on my ebook. Sounds like the first pair of novels are more highly regarded than the second pair?

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#309

Post by _djo_ »

ilamont wrote: post #89

What will happen to the economies of South Africa, Botswana, and many other sub-Saharan countries if the market for mined diamonds and other jewels collapses?

For South Africa the impact will be very small. The entire mining sector has shrunk to just 7% of the economy, with diamond mining being a tiny fraction of that. Botswana is far more at risk, as around a third of their government revenues come from either diamond sales or diamond mining-related activities. They're already trying to diversify their economy though, as diamond prices have been falling for some time now.

Re: Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems

#310

Post by badosu »

kragen wrote: post #275
sampo wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iron extraction is not very high tech after one has the know-how. But it took time to develop the knowledge. https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/forge-b...

On a more-than-proof-of-concept scale, you have https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuCnZClWwpQ , a traditional blacksmith family in Burkina Faso mining a few kilograms of iron with several person-days of work, which is probably about 1000× as productive as the Primitive Technology guy achieved (perhaps a gram of iron after about a person-day of work). But the US steel industry employs 87000 people to produce about 120 m…

Thanks for sharing, this is a really great documentary!
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