one of the things someone pointed out to me most of a decade ago is that more and more things are becoming algorithmic--or perhaps we should say, being revealed as being algorithmic.

take some classic physical patent like the Bessemer process for steel--given a suitably general collection of industrial robots and reconfigurable equipment, "make steel like this" is "implementable" in software.

or any random machinery patent--"be this specific kind of rotary engine" is software if your hardware is a few trillion nanites.

what exactly the implications are for the patent system, i'm still not sure....