This means that theorists working on it believe the laws of nature can be stated without making any prior assumptions about the geometry of space and time.
Scientists like the concept because it would explain some important observations, not least the geometry of space - a superluminal expansion could have stretched everything until it was flat.
Today, the courtyard has swung back to being a blend of geometry and nature, transforming from a functional protection from weather and foes to a space that's conducive to spending more time outside.
First introduced by Alan Guth of MIT in 1980 to explain (among other points) why the geometry of the universe appears to be flat and why matter is distributed so evenly throughout space, the theory also offered solid grounds for modeling how galaxies formed as the universe evolved.