[SideburnsOfDoom]

Since the main difference between coal and diamonds is some expensive processing (currently it's usually done by natural processes but that detail can be changed)

So diamonds might have a fair price of, to be generous, 1000 * times the cost of coal. So diamonds cost the ballpark of $50 per kilogram.

Obviously they don't right now, but it gets you thinking about the intrinsic value of diamond and how that price might move in the future.

[adrianN]

Since the main difference between sand and Intel processors is some expensive processing, processors might have a fair price of, to be generous, 1000 times the cost of sand. So processors cost the ballpark of $10 per kilogram.

Obviously they don't right now, but it gets you thinking about the intrinsic value of processors and how that price might move in the future.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

Quite right: it is indeed moving that way and it's worth thinking about.

See for instance http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/08/how-low-...

[crdb]

It won't because the main value of dug diamonds is rarity, which makes them perfect goods to display your wealth and status. Many of these goods are stored in vaults (some in freeports, areas of an airport carved out for fiscally optimized storage), and the only sign of a change of ownership is an extra name on a registry... but the whole point is to leave your mark on that registry.

So, the demand for these diamonds is not driven by their diamond-ness, just as the James Bond set Astons fetch higher value at auction than the same model sold at retail.

You can already see a version of this by heading to any jewelry shop and comparing lab diamond prices to the stuff sold by Tiffany's etc. Or just asking any young, not yet married lady in the street if she'd be OK with a synthetic.

[billpg]

If you say "synthetic diamond" to most people (I suspect) they would imagine you mean cubic zirconia or something similar.

A "synthetic" diamond is 100% a genuine diamond, made from the same stuff as mined diamonds.

[dagw]

So diamonds cost the ballpark of $50 per kilogram.

Close. Current prices for industrial diamonds seem to be more like $100-400 pr. kilogram depending on exactly what you want. Of course those diamonds aren't exactly the type you put into jewelry.

[masklinn]

> Current prices for industrial diamonds are more like $100-400 pr. kilogram

IIRC the price was closer to 20 times that for diamond dust, did something change very recently?

[dagw]

No idea. I just googled a bit and pulled some numbers from a few different bulk suppliers I found (all in China). Perhaps competition from china has had a dramatic effect on prices?

[masklinn]

Or they're bullshit suppliers advertising ridiculous prices and wares, like the company advertising kilograms of stuff only made on milligram-scales since it was discovered (don't remember where I saw that, probably the comments of a "things I won't work with" entry)

[_Codemonkeyism]

I wonder about the intrinsic value of dollar notes.

[danmaz74]

I wonder about the intrinsic value of intrinsic value.

[parasubvert]

Same as it is for coal - how long it takes to burn it. Which is a lot quicker.

On the other hand, flags, religious symbols, and monuments don't have a ton of intrinsic value either, but humans are funny that way, with their social contrivances.

[masklinn]

Industrial diamond use is not limited to burning (in fact burning isn't really an industrial use of diamond as far as I know, there's plenty of cheap ways to heat stuff). Diamonds (mostly synthetic) are used for cutting, piercing (drill bits), abrading[0], anvils in very high-pressure context and electronics heat sinks.

Most of the mined diamond production and the vast, vast majority of synthetic diamonds are not gemstone-grade and are used industrially.

[0] for all three mostly as diamond coating on tools, though there are monocrystalline diamond edges and blades, mostly for surgical use and microtomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_knife

[SideburnsOfDoom]

Unlike coal or religious symbols, diamonds aren't just useful for fuel. The properties of diamond (e.g. transparent, very hard) make it a useful material. More so if the price comes down.

[jacquesm]

Caloric value of paper or textile?

[rralian]

Interesting. Caloric value as the way to compare value of things rather than fiat money. That's how it used to work right? Maybe we fall back to that after society falls?

[masklinn]

> That's how it used to work right?

When?

[jacquesm]

http://insiderzim.com/biti-says-we-can-even-use-firewood-as-...

http://www.investmentpostcards.com/2008/04/02/currency-notes...

[masklinn]

Intrinsic value is not relevant to gem-grade anything, they're status symbols not industrial commodities.