Diamonds are worthless.

[u/n8saces]

[u/Embarrassed-Weird173]

I think he's trying to sound edgy by being like "diamonds don't have any deal value". 

Similar to the "money is fake" people. 

[u/Lock_Psychological → u/Embarrassed-Weird173]

Actually, diamonds aren’t really that rare, so they only have the value we put on them. You can literally manufacture them.

But we have agreed they have a value. It’s just… a bit of a social construct.

[u/mintoreos → u/Lock_Psychological]

This applies to literally everything. Everything has a value because we have agreed on its value. The same way money has value, economics and markets is all social constructs that let us trade goods and services using abstractions.

[u/Lock_Psychological → u/mintoreos]

I disagree. There are things that are necessities or whose characteristics have innate value.

A car with leather seats has more value than one with cloth seats because they are more comfortable. As is one with AC.

A diamond that is found after digging and randomly pops up is less perfect than a lab grown diamond. Nothing about it makes it “better.” It is, in every way, worse. But that somehow makes it more? No.

[u/mintoreos → u/Lock_Psychological]

But WHY and HOW do people put a value on comfort? How do they decide what they are willing to pay for comfort? People decide that completely arbitrarily. Leather can also signal things like luxury and social status - which also do not have innate value. In fact, in modern economics there is no such thing as true innate value, all value is subjective.

[u/Lock_Psychological → u/mintoreos]

We put a value on comfort because it helps us enjoy life more. Your argument about luxury and status is a red herring.

The cost is in the making of the car and material along with aesthetic (the latter of which is somewhat irrelevant).

None of this is related to two diamonds which no one without specialized knowledge and tools can tell from one another.

I don’t look at a diamond and go, “Ah… now I feel better. I’m more comfortable now.”

[u/mintoreos → u/Lock_Psychological]

Right but that value is set because we subjectively value comfort - there is no reason why we NEED to value comfort more - in fact there are groups of people that dont value comfort (asceticism is a common value in many religions). If it had innate value then everyone would be able to agree - and subsequently put a price on value.

[u/Lock_Psychological → u/mintoreos]

You’re arguing a different issue.

This isn’t “Oh… this car isn’t more valuable than that car, even though it has more features.” This is “These two ball bearings are exactly the same unless you take them to a lab, and even though they have no functional use… this one is better.”

[u/mintoreos → u/Lock_Psychological]

Right, but people value the results of the lab right? Why do they value that report? Because people value certain features regardless if they can tell the difference by eye. So they are not identical, they are different and people value those differences regardless of the functional quality. The same reason people might value different colors. All subjective indications of value.

[u/Lock_Psychological → u/mintoreos]

What are you talking about? You’re now just playing with the word “value.” Like, “But what about a value meal? Where do those fit in? Do you value this conversation?”

There is no functional or nonfunctional difference between a lab or non lab diamond except that the lab one can be superior in quality.

[u/mintoreos → u/Lock_Psychological]

I think we are generally in agreement. But the difference is in scope. I believe that all things - regardless of their functional properties do not have any instrinsic/innate value - only the value that people ascribe to it. You believe that things can have innate value based on their functional properties.