If lab-grown stones become the norm for ethical reasons, but they are priced too low, I can see culture shifting to new gestures of commitment.
My wife and I decided to build a house together instead of getting expensive rings and having a wedding. We paid $15 for a wedding, the rings were a little more.
I think it must be very easy to come up with ways to have productive financial commitment together. There must be all kinds of things you can do.
Financial commitment and sweat(!) commitment: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E9zGc4aCat6qjNeEA
(We did not build the entire house, just lots of finishing stuff)
Wedding: https://twitter.com/simonsarris/status/1152244909077913600
Thank goodness. From a joint college account for future kids, the purchase of a home, or even just Treasuries in a joint trust, there is an infinity of superior options to shiny rocks from Central Africa.
If you have the money to burn on a symbol without any particular utility (and, usually, a fractional resale value that makes driving new car off the lot look like a relatively good investment), you may well also have the money to burn on a divorce lawyer.
Some other form of marriage bond could potentially pop up, I suppose, but meanwhile we have laws which aren't mere gestures of financial commitment, they're enforceable obligations.
99.99% of people who buy the engagement rings are better off investing the funds and going with a fake shiny thing if they want to "fit in" with their peers, and just lie to people. Or they can inform others how little value status signaling provides them, especially if they don't have considerable assets to blow.
It used to be true that women needed to own expensive jewelry - because they couldn't have their own bank accounts, so they needed something they could sell in an emergency. But diamonds are worthless and the price is a fiction.
And all this time I thought it was to indicate a commitment to marriage.
> The expensive price tag is a feature, not a bug...
Feature? For who? The diamond industry?
I made an engagement ring from a coconut husk in about ten seconds and it did the trick just fine. No need to spend any money really, let alone the "three month's pay" rule of thumb that gets tossed around.
Diamond though are a terrible way to store wealth. As soon as you walk out of the store they lose significant value, and they will only depreciate.
>Feature? For who? The diamond industry?
Each couple is a world unto themselves, as such each is very different and equally unique. However, when it comes to large engagement stones like diamonds, the rings can generally serve three functions:
1) as a flaunting of the wealth of the suitor and the bride-to-be. Generally, you see this with people that are more about 'image' than 'substance'. People like the current US President who is notorious for his use of gold leaf, people that are in 'society' and need to be seen, people in the jewelry industry itself that can use the ring as an advertisement, etc.
2) as a psuedo-dowery for the marriage and the bride-to-be. Essentially, the suitor is 'pot committed', to borrow a poker term, and has a higher likelyhood of actually making it to the wedding as he has put a 'down-payment' on the bride-to-be. This is an extremely regressive stance on marriage, but it persists all the same. The bride-to-be also now has a lump-sum of money that that ring can be pawned off for in case the marriage is not preformed. Traditionally, if the ring was expensive enough, the couple could then start having intercourse and risk pregnancy as the bride-to-be could be assured that the suitor was now serious about marriage and would not run off after intercourse.
3) as a sign to others in society that they share the same values system and can be relied upon to perpeuate the culture too. This is something of a deal in religious communities and in family groups. By putting a lot of money up for such a ring, the couple shows that they are financially committed to the value system of others. This is also known as 'tradition'.
If the culture shifts to buying your girlfriend a car or a down payment on a condo or paying off her student loans, I will be so much happier.
So spend the money on something that's actually useful in a marriage. A house, college fund for kids, car, rainy day fund, vacation etc.