From a FB group post.
“primitive transistors”
I think that’s ironic. The 555 makes the design easier for the builder. It has all the parts so the builder doesn’t have to build from scratch. Like making a cake using Betty Crocker’s cake mix instead of flour, eggs, etc, and no need for a recipe. It’s the lazy way to do it.
I once got into a disagreement with others on a Usenet newsgroup about using a 555 to flash a LED. They wanted the OP to buy a PIC controller chip, load software on a PC, learn to develop and debug software, and burn the program into the PIC, just to flash a LED. I argued that why should he have to do all that when it would be so much easier and cheaper to do it with a 555.