Hi, Riketto 
A theistic outlook on life would involve believing that the universe itself has a meaning (I hope this idea does not get confused with personal meaning which is an entirely different concept that I will get to it in a moment). However, there is, as of now, no evidence to suggest that there is a higher power or some ultimate fate for the cosmos, and therefore as a result, atheists do not believe in god or some larger meaning. However, in the quote I posted, Krauss is trying to tell people that this idea should not depress us or make us feel hopeless, but rather that we should contemplate our immense luck to be alive at all and to be part of a species that has evolved to the point that we are able to think and be self-aware. The fact that we all burst into consciousness and woke up into this world is incomprehensibly amazing and he's simply emphasising that this fact is meaningful enough in itself
On top of this, when you think about it, we don't tie our personal goals to the ultimate fate of the cosmos in reality. The real things that give meaning to life are far more personal - the love we share with family and friends, being kind to people, achieving our potential, helping people in need, and just making the most of the time that we have on this Earth. I feel that this quote from the genius that was Christopher Hitchens better sums up my point:
“A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless'...”
Life is wonderful and there doesn't need to be an ultimate meaning for this to be true.
As for consciousness, this remains to be a deeply complex, unsolved issue which scientists are working on. It is true that we do not yet understand it, but with no proper explanation, the most rational course is to keep trying to figure it out.
@Alex K, @cocunningham: Awesome facts, thanks for sharing
A theistic outlook on life would involve believing that the universe itself has a meaning (I hope this idea does not get confused with personal meaning which is an entirely different concept that I will get to it in a moment). However, there is, as of now, no evidence to suggest that there is a higher power or some ultimate fate for the cosmos, and therefore as a result, atheists do not believe in god or some larger meaning. However, in the quote I posted, Krauss is trying to tell people that this idea should not depress us or make us feel hopeless, but rather that we should contemplate our immense luck to be alive at all and to be part of a species that has evolved to the point that we are able to think and be self-aware. The fact that we all burst into consciousness and woke up into this world is incomprehensibly amazing and he's simply emphasising that this fact is meaningful enough in itself
On top of this, when you think about it, we don't tie our personal goals to the ultimate fate of the cosmos in reality. The real things that give meaning to life are far more personal - the love we share with family and friends, being kind to people, achieving our potential, helping people in need, and just making the most of the time that we have on this Earth. I feel that this quote from the genius that was Christopher Hitchens better sums up my point:
“A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless'...”
Life is wonderful and there doesn't need to be an ultimate meaning for this to be true.
As for consciousness, this remains to be a deeply complex, unsolved issue which scientists are working on. It is true that we do not yet understand it, but with no proper explanation, the most rational course is to keep trying to figure it out.
@Alex K, @cocunningham: Awesome facts, thanks for sharing
"The chances of each of us coming into existence are infinitesimally small, and even though we shall all die some day, we should count ourselves fantastically lucky to get our decades in the sun." - Richard Dawkins
