Any book is a collective process with contributions too numerous to name. I would like to single out several individuals, without whom this work would not have been possible. First of all, my wife and partner Katherine Casey, who bore with me through the long and difficult process of completing this work. I am also grateful for the support of my parents, Scott and Sharon, and my brother, Chad. As this book began as my dissertation project, I would like to thank Paul Smith, my dissertation chair, for pushing me on questions great and small, as well as the other members of my committee, Char Miller and J.P. Singh, for the generosity of their time and effort. I would like to extend those thanks to the other faculty and affiliates in George Mason University’s Cultural Studies program, who provided a continual atmosphere of rigorous intellectual inquiry and curiosity at an enviably high level of sophistication, especially Roger Lancaster, Denise Albanese, Alison Landsberg, and Matt Karrush. Tim Kaposy and Mark Sample, who are no longer with the university, provided much appreciated early guidance. I benefited from numerous conversations and freely given insights from my peers and colleagues surrounding critical theory, economics, technology, and politics, which have left an indelible mark on this work. At the risk of leaving off names, I’d like to thank John Carl Baker, Julian Duane, Daniel Greene, Asad Haider, Geraldine Juárez, Kimberly Klinger, Larisa Mann, Wayne Marshall, Salar Mohandesi, Zac Petersen, Ryan Vu, and Björn Westergard. Finally, I’d like to thank the pirates whose projects, many now shuttered, enabled so much of this research.