Dependence-Based Formation of Significance: How the Same Event Comes to Matter Differently to People Who Depend on Different Things

This conceptual paper introduces Dependence-Based Formation of Significance, the mechanism by which the same event can acquire different practical and felt significance for people whose needs, commitments, dependence, and exposure differ. People can agree about what happened while differing in what it means for them. The paper separates three senses of significance: felt urgency, endorsed priority, and judged benefit or harm. Evidence of exposure does not establish a person’s feelings or reflective priorities, and expressed urgency does not establish harm. Claims about significance therefore require evidence suited to the particular sense being asserted. The account draws on disaster vulnerability research and discusses the 1995 Chicago heat wave. Associations between mortality risk and social isolation, mobility, cooling, and transportation illustrate differences in exposure and practical harm. The case does not establish differences in felt urgency or endorsed priority. Part of the Generative Operations series within On Human Modeling, the paper offers questions for identifying what people depend on, whose stakes are represented, and who can avoid or transfer consequences. Its framework can inform human–AI research on personalization and the interpretation of user needs, while distinguishing evidence about exposure, feelings, reflective priorities, and welfare.