Are We Stuck in a Rut?

Technology...

The forte for the intellectual, future for the engineer and hope for mankind. So what has happened?

OK, first lets get out of the way all the "insertions" that are inevitable anytime a topic as broad as this is going to be is brought up.

I am NOT talking about computers, electronics etc.

I am specifically referencing the internal combustion engine and steam turbines.

So, basically except for improvements in materials and construction, the internal combustion engine and the steam turbine have remained unchanged for what? Centuries?

Our main and most prodigious form of transportation and our single most prevalent means of producing electricity.
1. We have a contained explosion from the combustion of fossil fuels that drives a piston, which produces motion.
2. We super heat H2O, then using the pressure of the super heated water, drive a turbine to produce electricity.

Simplified? Yes, but accurate no less. Correct?

So why have there been no new inventions in these areas? Even the future hydrogen powered car, is still nothing more than an internal combustion engine. Nuclear power plants simply use a new form of energy production to do the same thing coal does.

Where are the new ideas? The new concepts to raise ourselves from this mire we are stuck in?

Just asking

Semper