  We argue that the emergent spacetime picture admits a background-independent
formulation of cosmic inflation. The inflation in this picture corresponds to
the dynamical emergence of spacetime while the conventional inflation is simply
an (exponential) expansion of a preexisting spacetime owing to the vacuum
energy carried by an inflaton field. We show that the cosmic inflation arises
as a time-dependent solution of the matrix quantum mechanics describing the
dynamical process of Planck energy condensate in vacuum without introducing any
inflaton field as well as an {\it ad hoc} inflation potential. Thus the
emergent spacetime picture realizes a background-independent description of the
inflationary universe which has a sufficiently elegant and explanatory power to
defend the integrity of physics against the multiverse hypothesis.
