  In this review article we compare the recent work of Peter Lynds, "On a
finite universe with no beginning or end", with that of Stephen Hawking,
primarily "Quantum Cosmology, M-Theory, and the Anthropic Principle", and two
foundational works by Sean M. Carroll and Jennifer Chen, "Does Inflation
Provide Natural Conditions for the Universe" and "Spontaneous Inflation and the
Origin of the Arrow of Time", in order to evaluate their comparative treatments
of the nature and role of causality, time ordering, thermodynamic
reversibility, singularities and boundary conditions in the formation of the
early universe. We briefly reference Smolin and Kauffman's recent arguments
with respect to possible processes of "evolutionary selection" in early
universe formation as an alternative explanation to key elements of Hawking's
earlier "M-Theory", and its attendant anthropic principle. We also briefly
excerpt a short section of Smolin's recent work on topology in quantum loop
gravity, simply as an illustrative example of the type of complex quantum
topological transformation which he offers as a theoretical alternative to
string theory in quantum cosmology.
