MFT: Marvin Minsky's Useless Machine (includes Duel)

"Useless Machine" is a term for a mechanism that has certain function but is lacking any kind of purpose. Aside from driving metal thrashing mad by its utter unmitigated pointlessness that is basically an encounter with the null and void in its purest form and waste of shame in the same time. Deep inside "Useless Machine" seems to be proud of being wholly useless. Because "reasons". Sometimes it happens that way. "Useless machines" exist because "why not" is actual legitimate cause for action with rather impressive track record. And that is what makes it great.

The most infamous design of "Useless machine" was created by one and only Marvin Minsky. He was a man with a particular set of skills who had a taste in conceptual jokes of strange and fertile kind. While working at Bell Labs in the 50s he hanged out with another legend - Claude Shannon. Together they thought of all sorts of fantastic gadgets - all while constantly trying to one up each other with more out-there concepts. One day Minsky came up with the ultimate fantastic gadget - "most stupid machine of them all". For a while it was just a description but then Claude Shannon made one and it was a highlight of his desk. It was freaking out and irritating people as nothing else.

Marvin Minsky's "Useless Machine" is mindbogglingly simple and brilliant thing. It is just a little box with a switch. When you flip the switch on - hand comes out of the box and turns the switch off. Upon doing that the hand goes back into the box. You can turn it on again and it will repeat the same pattern. The way it functions is charming. As if it was saying "Nope!". You may think it messes with you and transmits "Take That!" of sorts - but it is just bluntly doing what it is designed to do. Best kind of toy for your kitten - you know what it mean. 

Technically "Useless Machine" is an example of so-called Zen Engineering AKA engineer trolling. It is built on paradox - it follows the command which is merely refusing to function at all. It is a showcase of transcendental possibilities of particularly pointless process. Basically - koan by design. It happens and that is it. It provokes sacramental "great doubt" and makes you think about it. It takes times. It involves. But since there is nothing really to think about - after brief feeling of being lost in the sea of nil you start to think about anything else. "Useless Machine" is like a physical manifestation of hitting a roadblock and getting a hard reboot. You can't beat it. But you can take it easy and enjoy slightly. For example you can turn it on until the battery runs out and record the sound of this dubious process - that's will be hell of a lowercase record. Or you can elaborate further.

Here's a video of Useless Machines Dueling each other. It is beautiful. It shows actual clash of the mechanisms who only want to turn themselves off. Truly pointless but ultimately astoundingly entertaining. Machines are placed back to back and fixed. There is a latch set on both switches. Once turned on machines start to switch themselves off but they also move the latch and so machines are turning each other on once again and so they try to turn themselves off on and on and on - until one of the machines kicks the latch of the switch and stops the whole thing.

Watching it makes you feel like a child - it is a trifle but it makes life a little bit brighter.