Thanks for the heads up, Jonathan.
"Imagine that spacetime and the universe could start out 2-d, and then evolve into a 4-d extension."
Fundamentally, I think that's the basis for all continuous function models and topologically based extradimensional theories for d > 4. While general relativity cannot avoid the singularity, string theory begins with the negative root, - 2, whose square is positive real, 4. This is one reason that I believe general relativity suffers no loss of generality when viewed as a model finite in space and unbounded in time; the singularity disappears, and the time parameter absent from discrete (Hilbert space) dynamics is restored.
Tom