Solid State vs. Tubes - What if Transistors came first?

Tubes, in my view, are a waste of time and money, but it is a hobby....

This is a good question and I suspect that people would just be used to whatever came first (at least for some time). Tubes would have to match transistors, I think. But really, if we had transistors, there's a good chance tubes would have never been used/invented.

I began with tubes decades ago, and was glad to see them wane....

Sort of funny, I think. For most of us transistors did come first! Then there was the tube 'Renaissance'. Wonder why anyone was interested if  transistors were so good? :-)

I can remember trucking SS amps home to match my Thiels, amp after amp after amp. My back still hurts. Then I got an ARC SP 10 and a Threshold SA3.  It worked just fine. Only took me five years to get the issues solved. Thank god for the tubes. I just sold that old pre a few years ago at a profit, no less.

What a fatuous question. Why do people drive old cars?  Play records?  Tape decks?