re: #2 BusyMonster

…

Also, funny, is that it won’t be long at all before gold can simply be printed. Diamonds already are easily synthesized and I expect despite all the whining and tearing of hair of the DeBeers cartel, that in another decade you will be able to make a snappy diamond ring with nothing more than a printer and a 3-d model in a computer.

…

One small technical point. To make a diamond, all that is needed is to rearrange carbon atoms into a different configuration (e.g., change graphite to diamond under pressure).

Making gold will never be as easy as making diamonds. The only way to “make” gold is to transmute other elements into gold. This can be done, but the cost in energy is completely prohibitive, and this cost is most unlikely to change.