The Rise of Network Culture by Kazys Varnelis

1. On the first page and third paragraph of Varnelis’ chapter, he briefly describes Charlie Gere’s theory of the transition to the digital age as a socioeconomic phenomenon that associates it with an extension of capitalism. He then says that “…the digital culture that Gere describes is rapidly being supplanted by network culture.” My question deals with this association of technological transitions as socioeconomic transitions as well, and I was curious about how much our “network culture” today embodies a capitalist ideology?
2. I’m interested in “networked publics” as he describes them when explaining Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire. He mentions that they call them the “multitude” and are characterized as the counter-force which challenges the system. From my understanding they are referring to the phenomenon of mass uprisings originating over large networks like social media, and it reminded me of the recent revolution which took place in Egypt in 2011, because it was largely a result of calls for protests over social media. How does the emergence of this phenomenon of “networked publics” change the way in which we interact with the world?
3. Varnelis says,
   

   “In [Jameson’s] analysis, the thorough capitalization of art, culture, and everyday life led to a new condition in which any separation between interior and exterior, even in the subject itself, disappeared and, with it, the end of any place from which to critique or observe. Late capitalism, Jameson concluded, would produce postmodernism, a cultural logic dominated by the schizophrenic play of the depthless, empty sign.”

   I am a little confused by what he means by postmodernism here; is it referring to the same postmodernism we think about when discussing Architecture? He later on says “Modernism’s concern with its place in history was inverted by postmodernism, which, as Jameson points out, was marked by a waning of historicity, a general historical amnesia.” But from my understanding, in Architecture, Modernism was more concerned with the rejection of history, while post-modernism, through images and memory, sought to bring back historical references into Architecture. Is postmodernism and modernism, as far as Jameson explains, being used differently in this context?