The Black Box meme is largely rooted in the 'Mystery Box' trope, most famously satirized in a classic Family Guy episode where Peter Griffin chooses a mystery box over a guaranteed boat. His logic—'A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything! It could even be a boat!'—became a foundational internet concept for highlighting irrational decision-making and the allure of the unknown. Over time, the 'Black Box' has evolved into a broader meme format used to describe complex systems where inputs and outputs are known but the internal workings are a mystery, as well as a popular social media trend involving hidden surprises or 'loot box' style humor.