And whereas John Preskill and Kip Thorne (having won the previous bet) still regard naked singularities as quantum gravitational objects that might exist, unclothed by horizons, for all the Universe to see,
Therefore Hawking offers, and Preskill/Thorne accept, a wager that
When any form of classical matter or field that is incapable of becoming singular in flat spacetime is coupled to general relativity via the classical Einstein equations, then
A dynamical evolution from generic initial conditions
(i.e., from an open
set of initial data) can never produce a naked
singularity
(a past-incomplete null geodesic from scri-plus).
The loser will reward the winner with clothing to cover the winner's nakedness. The clothing is to be embroidered with a suitable, truly concessionary message.
Stephen W. Hawking, John P. Preskill, Kip S. Thorne
Pasadena, California, 5 February 1997