"He was a mechanical engineer."
Fair enough, but (a) IC engine combustion is a matter of electrical, gas and fluid technology. And (b) he might be perfectly aware that it wouldn't work, but that wouldn't stop the business being profitable. After all, think of the very highly paid investment managers who do no better than tracker funds despite the fact that investors can read that fact in the financial journals. There's a lot of people who want to believe - which is why I suspect the placebo effect works even with people who are told it's a placebo. I suspect they convince themselves that this isn't true and they are the ones getting the wonder drug.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
