I'm often reminded of this classic tweet:

> it's actually crazy we figured out how to grow real diamonds that are cheaper and better quality than the real thing and so many people are still like, no thanks the suffering is what makes it special.

https://x.com/missmayn/status/1612892354624786444

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raz32dust an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's marketing plus perception of how expensive it is. Most of diamond purchases are for engagement rings. Nobody wants to appear cheap. The expense and rarity is the point.

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Auracle 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That’s a silly way to look at it. Surely people can realize that something made through natural processes has more of an appeal than something made in a factory?

That said, most of the gems I’ve purchased in my life have been lab grown.

	▲	goodmythical 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I'd argue that most people appear to prefer manufactured things these days. No one's wearing clothes their mothers' spun because mothers' see that their children prefer the "higher quality" that is manufactured in factories. Few choose to spend their time engaged in walking about in nature and choose instead to gaze endlessly at their factory built device that provides them content ground out in other sorts of factories. (content farms etc). Something made in nature can be more appealing, but it seems to me that the modern preference is not at all for natural things. Hell, even in the diamonds we're talking about. No one's proposing with a natural diamond. People propose with carefully curated, carefully manipulated, and carefully presented diamonds. There's nothing natural about it, really.

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jebarker 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It’s kind of surprising that diamonds still have appeal as jewelry at all given the rise of lab-grown. I always assumed that people liked them because they were rare and expensive.

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Auracle 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

People liked them because they’re colorless, sparkly, and hard.

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yayitswei 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Expensive because they were perceived as rare. Classic article: https://priceonomics.com/diamonds-are-bullshit/

Synthetic has pretty much eaten their lunch now.

	▲	an hour ago \| parent [-]
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