From the Nautilus article, “Internal combustion is surviving by adapting”.

Invented before the lightbulb (so what appeared above our heads when we had ideas, before bulbs?), the ‘heat engine’, while amazing inefficient, looks like hanging on until at least the middle of this Century – “It endures—and dominates—because it is so adaptable”.

Here’s the article by Norman Mayersohn, with a fantastic illustration by Yuko Shimizu;

The Combustion Engine Refuses to Die