  Observations of the cosmic microwave sky are revealing the primordial
non-uniformities from which all structure in the Universe grew. The only known
physical mechanism for generating the inhomogeneities we see involves the
amplification of quantum fluctuations during a period of inflation. Developing
the theory further will require progress in quantum cosmology, connecting
inflation to a theory of the initial state of the Universe. I discuss recent
work within the framework of the Euclidean no boundary proposal, specifically
classical instanton solutions and the computation of fluctuations around them.
Within this framework, and for a generic inflationary theory, it appears that
an additional anthropic constraint is required to explain the observed
Universe. I outline an attempt to impose such a constraint in a precise
mathematical manner.
