Postmodernism's Threat to Individuality

With the conversion to a postmodern society where "the end [...] of style, in the sense of the unique and the personal, the end of the distinctive individual brush stroke (as symbolized by the emergent primacy of mechanical reproduction)" (15), according to Jameson, is due to come, will all new mediums of technological and mechanical progress be devoid of individual creativity? According to the alternate reality proposed by Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash, this new society will not. Instead, this new reality, our future, will create new forums and opportunities, technologically, transportationally, and interactively, for the exhibition of emotions, personalities, and uniqueness. In this postmodern era Jameson speaks of, there may not be as much opportunity for the current popular modes of art and creativity, but, as shown in Snow Crash, all of the current modes of expression can be converted to a technological or more advanced counterpart. In Snow Crash, people in the Metaverse are able to design their avatars to be as much or as little like their actual selves, they are able to defy laws of physics in combat, they are able to access advanced programs and helpful applications to supplement their work, they are even able to attend concerts and social events without even leaving their couches. With these possibilities presented by Stephenson, can it be guaranteed that with the societal switch from modernism to postmodernism will come the diminishing of cultural and individual distinction? Furthermore, is it even possible to rid an individual of its individuality? Isn't that one's birthright, to be his own unique person? Without mankind evolving in correlation with this apparent change, how can it even be proposed that the advances of the postmodern era will eliminate man's innate individuality? If the present continually repeats the past, as it can be and has been proven many times over throughout the centuries of the existence of humankind, how would it be possible that our future would stray so far from the present and past that man's individuality could be overtaken by the technology man has developed?
Stephenson shows that, even in a technologically dominated society, it is still very possible for past conflicts with religion, hierarchy, and spirituality to be present or even repeated. In Snow Crash Hiro shows this when he is explaining the intentions and reasons behind L. Bob Rife's actions and beliefs to Ng. He explains, "'Rife's key realization was that there's no difference between modern culture and Sumerian. We have a huge workforce that is illiterate or alliterate and relies on TV--which is sort of an oral tradition. And we have a small, extremely literate power elite--the people who go into the Metaverse, basically--who understand that information is power, and who control society because they have this semimystical ability to speak magic computer languages'" (Stephenson 379). Even in this world where computers are turned to for careers, interaction, entertainment, and much more, humanity remains the same race with the same cultural, individual, and creative instincts as humanity had even as far back as Sumerian times.