18 votes

De Beers "admits defeat" over man-made diamonds

6 comments

  1. cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link
    The amount of human pain, suffering and misery (not to mention environmental damage) generated in the pursuit of nuggets of compressed carbon buried in the ground is absurd. I am really glad...

    The amount of human pain, suffering and misery (not to mention environmental damage) generated in the pursuit of nuggets of compressed carbon buried in the ground is absurd. I am really glad people are finally realizing just how counterproductive it is to our species to put so much value on something so common and better created in a lab.

    War & slave labor, child labor, insane working conditions in the mines, money laundering, artificial scarcity and marketing inflating their value, forced relocation / cultural genocide of indigenous people, the inadequacies and outright corruption hampering the attempts to root out conflict diamonds... the list of reasons to stop buying "natural" diamonds just goes on and on.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_the_diamond_industry
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process_Certification_Scheme#Criticism

    14 votes
  2. Catt
    Link
    Hopefully this means less mining and the associated damage to the environment in general.

    Hopefully this means less mining and the associated damage to the environment in general.

    6 votes
  3. toly
    Link
    Even though it might just be a tactic to increase their leverage over contract negotiations with Botswana, I hope they lose control over it and end up permenantly devaluing diamonds to their true...

    Even though it might just be a tactic to increase their leverage over contract negotiations with Botswana, I hope they lose control over it and end up permenantly devaluing diamonds to their true value of being a pretty hard rock.

    2 votes
  4. Lucifer
    Link
    if you cant beat em, flood the market with super cheap synthetic saving the big natural shit for the i-have-too-much-money crowd honestly, wont this just tank the market for any [fashion] diamonds?

    if you cant beat em, flood the market with super cheap synthetic saving the big natural shit for the i-have-too-much-money crowd

    honestly, wont this just tank the market for any [fashion] diamonds?

  5. Cliftonia
    Link
    That's great! Now find a way to make synthetic arms to replace the ones hacked off of your slaves.

    That's great! Now find a way to make synthetic arms to replace the ones hacked off of your slaves.

  6. ribi305
    Link
    For anyone sick and tired of the diamond industry, this Atlantic article from the '80s is the definitive must-read piece:...

    For anyone sick and tired of the diamond industry, this Atlantic article from the '80s is the definitive must-read piece:
    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/

    On that topic, does anyone have a more recent article on the same topic that I can read and then use to feel smugly superior to everyone who buys diamond engagement rings? :) Just kidding, kind of