I wrote last week about reactions to the NKS book: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2012/05/living-a-paradigm-shift-looking-back-on-reactions-to-a-new-kind-of-science/

For years, I’ve tended to do things much more for myself than for the sake of other people’s opinions. Opinions also get pretty statistical after a while: there’ll be people who are very positive, and people who are very negative. Sometimes the negative people are interesting to interact with; sometimes they’re just negative, and don’t seem to add much.

I suppose it helps to be confident about what one’s doing. For me it also helps that I really like doing what I’m doing. And generally my experience is that when people tell me it’s a silly thing to do… well, that’s when it’s a really good idea!