That's what I was thinking.

It sounds much more like startups to me than cubes. The emotional attachment, the promotion of the lack of work/life boundaries, the deadlines or the company dies and the world implodes, all features of startups, not really cubes.

(They have their own massive set of dysfunctional features.)

Nah, there are plenty of large tech companies that are run by sociopaths, with bad work/life balance, etc. At least at a startup, there is a small chance you'll get rich, or meet some productive people.

Yep. :\