Why can you Patent Concepts and not Ideas???????????

I think writers are being shortchanged here and I`ve thought so for a long time.

Every time a writer squawks that he or she is being ripped off, you are told by somebody in an overpaid job that you can`t copyright `ideas`?

Well, funny that. Because every overpaid designer or aerospace scientist is able to copyright patents and/or designs.

How about bringing the hacks into the 21st century?????????????

Answer:
Ok lets go your way and see what we get. Somebody already wrote about a detective, so now no one else can touch that. Mmmm lets see, there was a story once that involved love and relationships, guess we can't ever do that again.

At what point do we prohibit authors from having an idea that is in anyway similar to another. As people, don't we all have emotions and thoughts that run similar, isn't that how we recognize good writing when we read it?? Can i sue writers for infringement if they spell out something that has a similarity to an experience i once had??

By the way, i have copyright on the word "the" and you guys have been ripping me off for years.