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tricpe
tricpe

The New Diamond Age

8 comments, 243 views, posted 7:07 pm 10/01/2012 in Business by tricpe
tricpe has 6220 posts, 2008 threads, 1575 points
?ber Member

Recent decades have seen some modest successes. Starting in the 1950s, engineers managed to produce tiny crystals for industrial purposes - to coat saws, drill bits, and grinding wheels. But this summer, the first wave of gem-quality manufactured diamonds began to hit the market. They are grown in a warehouse in Florida by a roomful of Russian-designed machines spitting out 3-carat roughs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A second company, in Boston, has perfected a completely different process for making near-flawless diamonds and plans to begin marketing them by year’s end. This sudden arrival of mass-produced gems threatens to alter the public’s perception of diamonds - and to transform the $7 billion industry. More intriguing, it opens the door to the development of diamond-based semiconductors.

Clickety click

Extra Points Given by:

Edorph (5), my69pickup (10), marksyzm (9), Quaektem (5), greencan (5)

Comments

2
7:35 pm 10/01/2012

evolution

PAR

The mass production of diamonds opens up a whole new world of possibilities. From weapons to machinery and of course space elevators. Arthur C. Clarke spoke of discovery of a vast natural source for diamonds in one of his novels, a discovery that would change the future of humanity.

Talking of weapons, here is a fantasy of mine:
http://www.teoti.co.uk/art-comics/89003-evolutions-sword.html

2
8:28 pm 10/01/2012

djskitzy

Quote:
"If people really love each other, then they give each other the real stone,"

bollocks... a dude will buy the bigger cheaper one and tell her if she loves him, she wont need to prove it's real.... amirightguysorwhat

2
8:42 pm 10/01/2012

Flee

Wrong. A real woman doesn't need a material possession to know she is loved

1
8:57 pm 10/01/2012

my69pickup

good read.

1
9:54 pm 10/01/2012

Quaektem

People have been deluded into thinking that natural diamonds are rare. In fact it's a carefully controlled market with the intent of making diamonds much more expensive than they should be. It will be good to see the market collapse after decades of corruption and manipulation.

0
9:55 pm 10/01/2012

tricpe

Quote by Quaektem:
after decades of corruption and manipulation

Don't you mean millennia i.e. eons...?

1
10:24 pm 10/01/2012

Quaektem

Well... I may go with centuries. There was a time when diamonds, and the finished cuts we now appreciate were both rare and valuable. It was during the 17-1800's and the British Empire's influence in Africa that the modern system of diamond distribution took root. Add to that the ads of the early to mid 1900's (specifically the push for a diamond engagement ring priced at three months salary) that things really began to stink.

1
3:58 am 11/01/2012

Flee

diamondium or diamondillium?

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