After all everyone knows blood diamonds are green porky-happy

  • raven [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    Paying thousands of dollars for something that drops most of its value in just a few years can leave the buyer feeling cheated

    How is that any different from non-synthetic diamond rings? lol

      • NephewAlphaBravo [he/him]
        ·
        9 months ago

        other things have use-value, sentimental value doesn't depreciate, and they're overpriced anyway

        there's no universe in which this is anything other than the whining of a (hopefully) dying industry

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Interestingly diamonds are neat example of differences between value and price because they undoubtedly do have use value in real industry.

            • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
              ·
              9 months ago

              On a large scale actually and even for domestic individual usage, you can even buy diamond drills in your local tool store. They are also used in glass cutting, wire manufacture, abrasive materials, thermoconductive pastes and many elements of precise electronics and various (especially pressure) measuring tools.

  • Magician [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    Coal is so bad, much worse than the natural way of obtaining useless rocks.

    CW - image of colonial exploitation:

    A South African miner getting x-rayed to ensure he didn't steal from De Beers diamond company. 1954

    Show

    This image alone should be reply enough to these articles.

    • Water Bowl Slime@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      9 months ago

      I remember someone posted an article a while back about this. The company cops would check workers' clothes, hair, mouths, butts, and balls for diamonds too. Imagine being so worried about profits that you hire penis inspectors to make sure miners can't keep a few itty bitty rocks.

  • raven [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I expect diamonds to fall off entirely in the next decade or so. Their (natural, later artificial) scarcity and (manufactured) tradition was all they ever had.

      • john_browns_beard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        My wife's ring is moissanite, it was less than 1/10th the price of an equivalent carat diamond ring and you literally can't tell the difference. We both decided that we would rather spend that money on literally anything else. The mohs hardness is 9.5 for moissanite vs 10 for diamond which is practically the same, assuming you aren't using it as a beyblade vs a diamond ring.

    • DefinitelyNotAPhone [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Diamonds have a lot of practical value for jewelry because it's damn near impossible to damage them in everyday use, which can't be said for more brittle gemstones.

      That said, synthetic diamonds will likely completely replace traditional ones except for people that want to reuse family heirlooms or something similar.

      • raven [he/him]
        ·
        9 months ago

        Yes I'm aware of that, but we aren't talking about industrial diamonds

  • odmroz [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    Gen z/ millennial getting yelled at solidarity solidarity

  • chicory [he/him]
    cake
    ·
    9 months ago

    I like how they chose "oblivious" rather than something like "unaware." I wonder what vocabulary they choose to use for generations that overlap better with their subscriber base.

    • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Writing news articles like Victorian pen pals to impress my editor at Fortune Magazine

  • kristina [she/her]
    ·
    9 months ago

    diamonds dont even really look cool. i like those shiny mirror rocks that you buy for kids

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Unlike diamond simulants (imitations of diamond made of superficially similar non-diamond materials), synthetic diamonds are composed of the same material as naturally formed diamonds—pure carbon crystallized in an isotropic 3D form—and share identical chemical and physical properties.

    Bro what. So “synthetic” diamonds are literally just diamonds. This whole time I thought it was just slapping a bunch of chemicals together to make some as durable as a diamond, but cannot be classified as a diamond because it’s some other chemical. Basically “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Diamonds” but no. It’s just diamonds.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Materials processed in a (capitalist) factory into a chemically distinct substance: "Natural flavors! 😊"

      Materia made in a (communist) factory that is chemically and physically indistinguishable from naturally occurring examples: "Synthetic knockoff 🙁"

    • Cyrazure [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      didn't you know? diamonds aren't real diamonds unless children have died mining for it

      also funny thing is that diamonds are certified as synthetic if they are too pure upon inspection.

  • SSJ2Marx
    ·
    9 months ago

    Well yeah you make a diamond by crushing the shit out of coal. The difference is whether it's done in a lab or underground.

  • Bloobish [comrade/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    wojak-nooo "Nooooooo you can't realize that all diamonds are the same and we have a manufactured scarcity of them to keep prices sky high!!!"