Somebody gives you money for something you do. It's the same basic formula for startups and employees. Your definiton can not tell them apart.
BTW: That's only a theoretical counter-argument to a theoretical argument. I understand that in reality startups are vastly different from being employed.
Would anyone mind refuting anything I've said here?
I didn't down vote (I up'd to balance it :D) but I think it's a bit much to compare corporate work relationship to slavery. Real slavery is a huge step away from "wage slavery". I think we can discuss how much corporate jobs suck without the need to compare it to people who have it much worse.
Wage slaves are mostly slaves of their own mind. That's a big difference from having a ball and chain around your ankles.
A corporate job is slavery:
"Slavery is a condition of control over a person against their will, enforced by violence or other forms of coercion. Slavery almost always occurs for the purpose of securing the labor of the person concerned."
This is grimly apparent to me since I'm typing this out at work on a weekend. There's a big demo is on Tuesday and I'd better have my part done, or else. I'd give anything to have just enough money to work on my own projects instead.
People do find satisfaction in working for someone, but why in the world wouldn't you want to decide what to work on?
Anyway, the 1 million line project has finished compiling (after 15 minutes and 20 build helpers). Back to work..