Reacting to the Diminished Significance Today's World Accords Us

Some of us dispute our reduced importance strenuously, most often choosing to assert our personal significance in a symbolic manner—for example, via ever more massive and formidable-looking pickup trucks, or ever-deadlier personal caches of military-grade firepower. 

Others accept the designation of inconsequentiality without protest—often in ways that unwittingly and needlessly amplify it.  For example, if we think that we’re not personally significant or interesting, we tend to believe that neither are the people around us.  People who adopt this attitude are more likely to: