then, it is important to find out if the censorship hypothesis is valid.

We wish to make two further remarks. Firstly, while a great deal is known about the properties of stationary black holes, we know very little about the process of black hole [*formation*]{}. In fact we know as little about the formation of black holes as we do about the formation of naked singularities. Secondly, it has sometimes been remarked that a theory of quantum gravity is likely to get rid of the singularities of classical general relativity, irrespective of whether these singularities are naked or covered. Why then does it eventually matter whether or not cosmic censorship holds? The answer to this legitimate objection is the following. A quantum gravity theory is expected to smear out a classical singularity and replace it by a region of very high, albeit finite, curvature. If the classical singularity is hidden behind a horizon (i.e. is a black hole), this quantum smeared region remains invisible to an external observer. However, if the classical singularity is naked, the smeared region of very high curvature will be visible to far away observers, and the physical processes taking place near this smeared region will 