I'm a fan---I even own a copy of the gorgeous hardcover edition of A New Kind of Science. However, this should be understood in context: Wolfram has been claiming that this approach would generate revolutionary changes (a paradigm shift, to use Kuhn's now hackneyed phrase) to how we understand and approach the universe for at least three and a half decades. He's brilliant, and has made some very important contributions to complexity theory, chaos, theoretical comp sci, discrete mathematics, etc. He also has a Bobby Fischer-level awareness and focus on his own superiority, and whatever the exact opposite of debilitating impostor syndrome would be. Still, that's true of many people that I admire but would probably not enjoy having dinner with (Nicholas Taleb, I'm looking at you.) Probably best to take some of his claims with a grain of salt until he proves them (which is not entirely unlikely in Wolfram's case).