Embarrassment as a driving force

Pain is pain. In the beginning of Rome's Evolution, Rei is blown up and knocked into a coma. As he drags himself back to consciousness, he compares the most painful physical and emotional experiences he has had.

One pain he did not review was the pain of embarrassment. Think of how many times people get in trouble or go down the wrong path just to avoid being embarrassed. Is the pain of embarrassment a sufficient motivating factor to drive larger human endeavors? Let me give you a few examples.

The first is the Vuduri themselves. Their entire culture is based upon suppressing their feelings and thoughts rather than have other Vuduri learn of something that could remotely be construed as embarrassing. Here is Fridone's description of the Vuduri mind:

“I do not know your language but I think you understand,” said Fridone. “That very act was one of defiance. Let me see if I can explain. Pretend that you could take all the Vuduri in the world and line them up. Now take the most perfect Vuduri and put him at one end and put us, you and me, all the mandasurte at the other. The most perfect Vuduri has absolutely no mind of his own. He allows the Overmind to think for him. He would attempt to never speak but failing that, he would only refer to his parents by their names, never as Beo or Mea. And he would move out and go to a group home or academy as soon as he was able. But Rome, she lived with us until I was taken.”

The Vuduri on the farthest end of the "sheep spectrum" that Fridone referred to don't even use their own senses. They use what is called "second sight" to allow the Overmind to supply their underlying sensory input. Just so they could see things the way the Overmind wants them to.

The Overmind himself is not immune from embarrassment. When Rei first arrived as Skyler Base, he was able to offer novel solutions to problems. The first time it happened, it caused the Overmind extreme distress. Here is how Rome described it:

“What just happened?” Rei asked Rome.
“Ursay instructed OMCOM to get a crew ready to launch a tug.”
“So why is Ursay so angry?”
“I do not know,” said Rome, softening. “I think perhaps because the Overmind did not think of this action by itself.”
“So what?” Rei asked. “So what if I thought of it first? Who cares? And why is he talking to OMCOM out loud all of a sudden?”
“The Overmind cares,” Rome said. She paused for a moment then asked, “How did you think of that?”
“I don’t know,” Rei said. “I just did...”
“More importantly,” Rome interrupted, “why did the Overmind not think of that?”

Finally, OMCOM himself was so embarrassed that he couldn't figure out why the stars were disappearing and that he didn't predict Rei's arrival that he reprogrammed himself, a self-styled psycho-surgery, just to avoid these types of embarrassments.

So while it is only partially true in our world, in the 35th century world of the Vuduri and Rome's Revolution, avoiding embarrassment is supremely important. Of course the major exception to this is Rome. Sweet, wonderful Rome. She has never done anything in her life that would cause her embarrassment. There were plenty of times when she could have been but she never considered. For example, she told Rei without shame that the Overmind of Deucado was in love with her. She didn't shirk from it but she was not embarrassed. A role model she is!