Tim you once wrote that to explain time, we need another dimension. It seems that the argument that "time stretches out" might adhere to that line of thought. Or is it possible that all that is happening is that over time, the relationship between time and other things changes? - but if that is the case, then - in effect - the past is being altered.

Perhaps time is not a dimension per se, but a degree of freedom in the relationship between events?

Also, the notion of inflation has always bothered me: where does the energy come from? Perhaps it was not inflaction, but contraction: perhaps the Planck size merely shrank, to - in effect - give the universe a lot more granularity. Perhaps inflation was a fractalization?