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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

#61

Post by rodgerd »

goldcd wrote: post #58
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…

The flip side though, is that you're making diamond miners unemployed. I suspect if they had alternate employment opportunities available that were more pleasant/better-paying, they'd have already taken them. So losers are the poor folks digging in the ground and winners are the companies who've just built themselves a lab. Maybe a way out of this, would be price up the grown diamonds to include a charitable donation…

> I suspect if they had alternate employment opportunities available that were more pleasant/better-paying, they'd have already taken them.

Spoken like someone who thinks that mining is conducted by volunteers.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#63

Post by tda »

intsunny wrote: post #21

I wonder how well this Reddit-famous commentary about the diamond industry has aged: https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/8pb8d5/i_grow_diamonds_i_...

There was an article the other day that talked about the resale value of diamonds. Basically jewelers refuse to buy back diamonds at any reasonable price (compared to original retail value. And refuse to make new rings with old diamond etc. So there is very little market for second hand diamonds.

Sounds like a business ready to be disrupted

Edit: Found the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/fashion/jewelry-diamond-s...

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#64

Post by Nursie »

goldcd wrote: post #58
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…

The flip side though, is that you're making diamond miners unemployed. I suspect if they had alternate employment opportunities available that were more pleasant/better-paying, they'd have already taken them. So losers are the poor folks digging in the ground and winners are the companies who've just built themselves a lab. Maybe a way out of this, would be price up the grown diamonds to include a charitable donation…

This is the case with any advance, and could be said about all sorts of exploitative, dangerous forms of employment. In general we seek to remove these and consider it a good thing and an advance for humanity.

Should I feel sad we no longer send kids up chimneys to sweep them?

I agree that social programs are needed to help these folks, but I think even without them, undermining this industry is a win.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#65

Post by joeblau »

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 rather have natural ice or human-made ice in their water. He broke down that the human-made ice could be frozen in a freezer to a custom size/shape, be a lot cleaner, consistent in how you make it, and chemically no different than H20 than naturally occurring frozen water. As you looked around the lecture hall, you started to see people’s brains unlock. He went on to explain cost efficiencies, ethics, challenges with conflict diamonds, and how you could make a perfect diamond at a fraction of the coast.

After a 30 minute lecture, he asked the question again. Surprisingly, the majority of the women still wanted natural diamonds although the number was less than the original amount that raised their hand. That was the point where I realized the strength of diamonds product branding.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#66

Post by rodgerd »

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…

See also: the return of vinyl. Tube amplifiers. Yellow lighting. All from people arguing that poor reproduction of audio and natural light is superior!

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#67

Post by Swenrekcah »

goldcd wrote: post #58
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…

The flip side though, is that you're making diamond miners unemployed. I suspect if they had alternate employment opportunities available that were more pleasant/better-paying, they'd have already taken them. So losers are the poor folks digging in the ground and winners are the companies who've just built themselves a lab. Maybe a way out of this, would be price up the grown diamonds to include a charitable donation…

I've seen vidoes from some of those mines and I don't think the miners browse job openings with their morning coffee before heading off to work. I think they probably just do whatever the man with the (literal or figurative) gun tells them to.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#68

Post by simias »

lewisflude wrote: post #10
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?

Not married, but engaged! I ended up buying a diamond on James Allen (they allow you to select earth created or lab created). They allege their mined diamonds are "conflict free" https://www.jamesallen.com/education/diamonds/grading-confli... . However, my feeling is I don't trust this 100%, and for my SO having a "real diamond" meant a lot. For me, in this case, the need to get a "real diamond" for my SO trumped my…

Did your SO explain why it's so important for them to get a "real diamond"? While I understand wanting a valuable piece of jewelry as a token of the value of your relationship, I must admit that the extreme fixations on specifically diamonds always seemed rather odd given that there are so many other beautiful gemstones to chose from. Of course it's also cultural thing, I think diamond engagement rings are especially popular in America?

This might well be the most successful marketing campaign in history.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#69

Post by bryanrasmussen »

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?

our rings are platinum, as my wife thinks gold is vulgar looking. inscription. No jewels.

Re: Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever

#70

Post by lewisflude »

sharken wrote: post #48
lewisflude wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not married, but engaged! I ended up buying a diamond on James Allen (they allow you to select earth created or lab created). They allege their mined diamonds are "conflict free" https://www.jamesallen.com/education/diamonds/grading-confli... . However, my feeling is I don't trust this 100%, and for my SO having a "real diamond" meant a lot. For me, in this case, the need to get a "real diamond" for my SO trumped my…

As long as the concept "real diamond", as in mined the traditional way exists, then real change will be slow. It will be interesting to see if companies will try to market "real diamonds" and how the market will respond.

When you buy a mined diamond, you are paying for the story, of it being a finite thing, formed in the earth over a very long period of time. Lab grown diamonds don't have that story.

Separately, the work that goes into cutting/finishing diamonds is incredible and there is a huge amount of variety between individual diamonds. They are very fascinating things.

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