Aphelion

Bug-bites, weather, sweat -- I can see why this guy likes VR better than real life. Some folks are just incapable of boredom, I guess.

Re: Plato's allegory of the cave:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

and a transcript of it:

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html

BD, your memory serves you wrongly . . . I wasn't very familiar with this myself, but I was glad to have read it -- it deals with a means of selecting the best political leaders.

Funny you mentioned "Q" -- I believe there was an episode when he gave up his powers and became mortal for a while, and that has a parallel in the allegory. Check it out.