  It is generally believed the way to resolve the black hole information
paradox in string theory is to embed the black hole in anti-deSitter spacetime
-- without of course claiming that Schwarzschild-AdS is a realistic spacetime.
Here we propose that, similarly, the best way to study topologically
non-trivial versions of de Sitter spacetime from a stringy point of view is to
embed them in an anti-de Sitter orbifold bulk, again without claiming that this
is literally how de Sitter arises in string theory. Our results indicate that
string theory may rule out the more complex spacetime topologies which are
compatible with local de Sitter geometry, while still allowing the simplest
versions.
