From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Mon Aug 26 2002 - 19:46:56 MDT
Hubert Mania wrote:
> What do you think about this business concept:
> extracting the carbon of human corpses, purifying it and then pressing it
> into artificial diamonds. I read about it in a German newsmagazine. No
> kidding.
>
> http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/faq.htm
The human body is but one source of carbon. Frankly, there are far more
available, more malleable, cheaper, etc. sources of carbon. In
addition, artificial diamonds (not too difficult for expert gemsmiths
to discern from natural ones, though efforts at forgery have been
getting better over the years) are cheap, having been long manufactured
for their industrial uses - and these would definitely be artificial
diamonds. The *only* thing this has going for it is the romantic
aspect: turning your loved ones into jewelry to wear for the rest of
your life.
> No transhuman concept of getting relatively immortal but an amazing business
> idea.
I'll grant, it's interesting. But it bases its business model on a
romantic concept, and such things have rarely been the most stable of
income sources. If I'm going to present a diamond engagement ring to my
beloved, it'll probably be an artificial one - say, an entire ring made
of diamond, with designs inscribed on it. (Not much resale value,
perhaps; the trick is that sentimental value is often much more linked
to time spent than money spent.)
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