Speaking of the devil, the New Yorker has an article about the world's largest uncut gem-quality diamond up for auction at Sotheby's. http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-ungraspable-value-of-the-worl... 1109 carats = 0.489 pound = .222 kg = 221.8 grams It may sell for perhaps $70 million, which is still probably a bargain, given how many bits it can reliably (!) store. It's the size of a person's fist; too big for the MRI machines that they typically use to look inside & map large diamonds. http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Fox-TheUngraspableValueo... Perhaps there's a message in this diamond bottle? At 08:49 PM 6/8/2016, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
I agree. That's why I think diamonds make more sense than other crystals. Diamonds are more durable. They're also no more expensive, given that carbon is ubiquitous and any such crystal would have to be assembled by molecular nanotechnology in any case. So the rarity of natural diamonds is irrelevant. They're also lighter, atom for atom, than most other crystals. And less toxic. And prettier.
Reading every diamond we find might be worthwhile once we get molecular nanotechnology. We're *already* in the era of big data. They may already be doing automated scans of images from nearly all cameras viewing the public, for images of wanted criminals. In a few years they may test all trash for fingerprints and DNA traces, and all sewage for DNA traces, for the same purpose.