Dan Larimer has had an impact on many blockchain developers, including me. His impact on the industry has been extraordinary, and I admire him for not being scared to suggest counterintuitive and crazy ideas. He doesn't hesitate to suggest something that is very different from the "commonly accepted" blockchain principles.
One of the reasons he gets criticized is because he is a bit unusual. He seems unconcerned with decentralization and has frequently shown that he is primarily interested in solving "scalability" issues. What I believe he thinks is that decentralization is not a one-size-fits-all solution for every project, and that (his version of) decentralization can be achieved WITH scalability by refining and innovating consensus algorithms. For the industry to thrive, we need contrarians like Dan Larimer who just do not simply back off from proposing something novel.
Yes, I do own a small amount of EOS just to express my gratitude to Dan. And, once again, let me say that I am becoming less and less enthused when he announces new projects every few years. He is one of the industry's brightest thinkers who has commitment issues.