  It is possible that the expansion of the universe began with an inflationary
phase, in which the inflaton driving the process also was a Higgs field capable
of stabilizing magnetic monopoles in a grand-unified gauge theory. If so, then
the smallness of intensity fluctuations observed in the cosmic microwave
background radiation implies that the self-coupling of the inflaton-Higgs field
was exceedingly weak. It is argued here that the resulting broad, flat maximum
in the Higgs potential makes the presence or absence of a topological zero in
the field insignificant for inflation. There may be monopoles present in the
universe, but the universe itself is not in the inflating core of a giant
magnetic monopole.
