  General relativity allows for inhomogeneous and anisotropic universes with
finite action. By contrast, in quadratic gravity such solutions obtain infinite
action and are thus eliminated. What remains are homogeneous and isotropic
solutions undergoing accelerated expansion, thereby automatically inducing an
early inflationary phase. In this manner, semi-classical consistency may
explain some of the basic, coarse-grained features of the early universe. This
includes suitable initial conditions for the second law of thermodynamics, in
the spirit of the Weyl curvature hypothesis. We note that quadratic gravity is
a renormalisable theory and may admit an asymptotically safe regime at high
energies, rendering the theory trustworthy to high energies. We also comment on
theories containing curvature terms up to infinite derivative order, and on the
contrast with no-boundary initial conditions.
