Rules Can Be Changed

The single most important sentence in Reich's analysis: rules can be changed. Markets appear natural, their outcomes inevitable, their distributions the product of impersonal forces. But markets operate within rules—about property, contract, labor, competition, taxation—and the rules are written by people with power. The rules governing the AI transition are being written now, in legislative chambers and regulatory proceedings and corporate boardrooms. They determine who owns AI-generated output, who profits from AI deployment, who bears the costs of displacement, who has access to the tools, and who governs their use. The rules are not neutral. They reflect the interests of those who write them. The symbolic analysts, as a class, have been passive observers of this rule-writing process, trusting that markets will distribute gains fairly and that individual adaptation is sufficient. Reich argues this passivity is a category error. The rules will be written whether symbolic analysts engage or not. Engagement determines whether the rules serve their interests and the public good, or whether the