they kind of look like what an object would look like if a guy who hated that object designed it to minimize its object-ness: the radio with the least amount of radio-qualia. the objects seem to argue that a technological civilization should not be enthusiastic about its accomplishments, nor celebrate them, let alone exaggerate or stylize. that the rightful stewards of technology aren't subjective or creative, but opinionless and objective, that their purposes are probably natural and inevitable