I think it's really the whole philosophical "create vs discover" thing. Only things that are created (with other restrictions) can be patented, things that are discovered cannot be.
The problem arises, when do you draw the line? When you spend thousands of man hours in a scientific lab and millions of dollars to piece together a bit of understanding, was it discovered or created?
The answer is often somewhat obvious. But I imagine that, behind closed (or semi-closed) doors, there are a lot of very persuasive people arguing for a very permissive definition of "create".
While it's probably hard to properly classify everything accurately the first time you see it, hopefully time lets us get a better perspective and quickly re-classify.
The problem arises, when do you draw the line? When you spend thousands of man hours in a scientific lab and millions of dollars to piece together a bit of understanding, was it discovered or created?
The answer is often somewhat obvious. But I imagine that, behind closed (or semi-closed) doors, there are a lot of very persuasive people arguing for a very permissive definition of "create".
While it's probably hard to properly classify everything accurately the first time you see it, hopefully time lets us get a better perspective and quickly re-classify.