Lawrence M. Krauss, an atheistic physicist and cosmologist and the author of A Universe From Nothing, has become popular for his colorful atheistic views. (He has appeared on shows as diverse as The Colbert Show and NPR's "Talk of the Nation.") Krauss has argued, "The laws of physics allow the universe to begin from nothing. You don't need a deity …. Zero total energy and quantum fluctuations can produce a universe." Although he also admits, "I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I'd much rather live in a universe without one.

But what's truly interesting is where this worldview leads. If his view about the universe is right, Krauss says, "[Human beings] are just a bit of pollution. If you got rid of us, and all the stars and all the galaxies and all the planets and all the aliens and everybody, then the universe would be largely the same. We're completely irrelevant."