  This essay outlines the Holographic Space-time (HST) theory of cosmology and
its relation to conventional theories of inflation. The predictions of the
theory are compatible with observations, and one must hope for data on
primordial gravitational waves or non-Gaussian fluctuations to distinguish it
from conventional models. The model predicts an early era of structure
formation, prior to the Big Bang. Understanding the fate of those structures
requires complicated simulations that have not yet been done. The result of
those calculations might falsify the model, or might provide a very economical
framework for explaining dark matter and the generation of the baryon
asymmetry.
