Another aspect of the ep I really like is it explored what it would be like to be a truly powerful telepath. Tam was constantly in danger of losing himself to the cacophony of other people's thoughts. I think when he talks about the one race of beings he encountered that had a days-long ceremony for just saying hello was a good illustration of how someone like that would seek out the most unusual creatures with more pacific thought processes. And it also made sense he would enjoy working with Data, whose thoughts he couldn't read because he's an android. -- RR