Thats what scientists dont get. No child blood = no value to rich people

Diamonds actually get their value because a single entity (DeBeers) owns something like 80% of all diamonds in the market.

They dictate the price by throttling supply and naming a price. People are willing to pay as a flex but you are right in that DeBeers markets “real” diamonds and “lab grown”.

It’s mostly done to capture different market segments, and to keep up the value of their stockpile of nearly unlimited diamonds already mined by people who are essentially slaves.

That being said, if there was a market for diamonds soaking in vials of oppressed orphan blood (with provenance of course) DeBeers would absolutely sell it.

If lab grown diamonds became significantly cheaper than slave mined diamonds, DeBeers would still likely keep their mines open to maintain control of the market. Even if they successfully moved consumers on to lab diamonds - can’t have someone else get diamond market share.

I can’t wait for the glorious future - one day this won’t be unrealistic anymore.

Not that easily I think.

Pretty sure the lines of cleavage would make it pretty difficult to get a useful lense shape made out of the stuff.

Diamond doesn’t have the best absorption spectrum compared to high quality optical glass. You’d end up losing more light.