A diamond gets its value from human suffering. The more pain and suffering to obtain it the more value is placed on it.
Diamonds actually get their value because a single entity (DeBeers) owns something like 80% of all diamonds in the market.
They dictate the price by throttling supply and naming a price. People are willing to pay as a flex but you are right in that DeBeers markets "real" diamonds and "lab grown".
It's mostly done to capture different market segments, and to keep up the value of their stockpile of nearly unlimited diamonds already mined by people who are essentially slaves.
That being said, if there was a market for diamonds soaking in vials of oppressed orphan blood (with provenance of course) DeBeers would absolutely sell it.
If lab grown diamonds became significantly cheaper than slave mined diamonds, DeBeers would still likely keep their mines open to maintain control of the market. Even if they successfully moved consumers on to lab diamonds - can't have someone else get diamond market share.
There was a study done a while back that looked at what happens when fake contraband (rhino horn in this case) is mixed in with real ones. They found that killing of rhinos went up because people wanted the real horn. The goal of pushing out fakes was to decrease the demand and it ended up with the opposite effect.
I imagine that diamonds will be similar.
Until there comes a point where anyone can grow a diamond in their home, DeBeers is going to continue to exploit people.
It is impossible to tell natural from man made diamonds. If it becomes cheaper to make them then EvilCorp will switch to doing that and probably not tell anyone.
I'd like one lab diamond pocket knife pls.
I can't wait for the glorious future - one day this won't be unrealistic anymore.
i tought they could already make artificial diamonds relatively easily?
Not that easily I think.
How an Ad Campaign Invented the Diamond Engagement Ring
In the 1930s, few Americans proposed with the precious stone. Then everything changed. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring/385376/
I want diamond optics for my camera, unless that is stupid for the physics of optics.
Pretty sure the lines of cleavage would make it pretty difficult to get a useful lense shape made out of the stuff.
Diamond doesn’t have the best absorption spectrum compared to high quality optical glass. You’d end up losing more light.
In the future (probably in the next couple years) after a company I with with release their product, I've learned of the stupidest use for diamonds you've never heard of, I'll drop it here in whatever announcement package they release.
I can keep going..
You're not too far off with the essence of a couple of them, I'll give you props for coming up with some very silly ideas,
Shotgun pellets?
Much more frivolous.
Butt plug
Finally, I can afford diamond encrusted tweezers!