Here’s your review of the pointless box: it does nothing useful.

Pretty lame right?

Well, actually it’s a joke in physical form.

When you press the button, a small mechanical finger comes out and flips the switch in the other direction.

It’s pointless, because the entire function of this rather intricate machine is to switch itself off.

Here’s a video to demonstrate:

Now, I feel like there are more than a few interesting philosophical questions that come about from the mere existence and concept of this little box. However, we’re not going to get into that. Because the point of the useless box is not only to be a sort of existential sculpture you can plonk on a desk next to your Newton’s cradle.

No, this is meant to be a sort of mental stress device. When you’re feeling bored or anxious, you can spend a few minutes battling a machine that doesn’t want to exist.

That being said, why should you buy the Calary version of the useless machine? There are cheaper versions without any print as well as more expensive ones with a tiger flipping the switch.

For one thing, it has a nice real wood construction. So it’s still pretty useless, but at least it’s classy.

Also, Calary have managed to make this a much more power-efficient waste of time. Their useless machine only needs 2 AAA batteries, as opposed to 3. Progress!