IIRC in the next movie, Captain Kirk states the exact opposite - "the need of the one outweighed the need of the many".
Spock's notion is contested and reevalued pretty often throughout Star Trek in many variations.
Some of the more extreme iterations on this problem occur in Voyager, in both directions - sacrificing self, and sacrificing everything else. "Caretaker", "Timeless" and "Endgame" are worth a watch in this regard. "Scorpion" has them helping the Borg, ie the bad guys, because that's the path of least resistance.
Basically I meant that the statement Baker cited can be contested, because there is no objective right or wrong. And being selfish is human. It's not that simple, the needs of the many do not automatically outweigh the needs of the few, ie Spock was not entirely right. Kirk was right in stating that the needs of one can outweight the needs of the many. It's a question of perspective, and whose place is it to be the judge?
Totally off topic now
