From it:
"The theory goes that during this time, called inflation, space itself expanded at a rate much, much faster than the speed of light."
I'm going to ask you all a few questions.
1) Inflation. Is it a theory or a proven fact?
2) Is the Universe expanding? Can you prove it?
3) Does light travel through empty space, i.e. nothingness?
Now, my viewpoint:
1) Inflation is a theory. If we accept the theory of Big Bang, then we have to explain how this Universe we see today is so uniform. Inflation theory explains that. But, What caused inflation? Nobody knows. What is the particle or field responsible for this inflation? Nobody knows. So, are you asking me
to believe you without further proof. Doesn't sound too scientific to me. It looks like a faith, where no proof is necessary.
2) If you see old family photographs, did your head expand in the last 20 years? No. Perhaps, did our solar system expand in the last 400 years, since Tycho Brahe? No. Do atomic radius expand? No. Then, where do astronomers see this expansion? Between galaxies. The Universe is expanding between galaxies only. Why is it being so selective? Nobody knows. But, is there any proof that the Universe is expanding at all? Yes, and no. Yes, there is something called
redshift, one might say, but it hasn't been proved that the reason for this redshift is an expansion. Redshift had several explanations, none plausible. There are more implausible explanations, one of them is the tired light model.
"Zwicky suggested that photons might slowly lose energy as they travel vast distances through a static universe by interaction with matter or other photons, or by some novel physical mechanism."
And, of course, because this mechanism was not found yet, the tired light model is discarded. See this, nothing was found that is responsible for the inflation, no cause, no field, no particle, however, in this case, this model
was not discarded. Another example that Science is becoming a faith and is biased.
3) If empty space is nothingness, How can light bend it? How can light travel through it? Well, by the law of inertia.
From the article:
"... the universe underwent a brief period that defied current physical laws."
Are we assuming that the universe defied certain laws but the law of inertia remained always the same? Does the Universe have preferences too? If there is a possibility, even accepting the Big bang model, that the law of inertia might be created a posteriori, after the beginning of Universe, Why the Universe keeps moving (before the law of inertia was "created")? Or the law of inertia was somehow coexisting with the point-like Universe?