Having read a bit of the script, he might be on to something...
Kirk: Are we gonna have a problem here?
Finnegan: No, no, no, no! There's no problem here. I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the moneyless economy in the deep space colonies. My contention is that prior to the Romulan War, the economic modalities, especially in the outlying colonies, could be most aptly described as agrarian precapitalist.
Kirk: Let me tell you something -
Spock: Of course that's your contention. You're a third-year cadet; you just got finished reading some Aurellian historian, Aleek-Om probably. You're gonna be convinced of that 'til next month when you get to John Gill. Then you're going to be talking about how the economies of Vega and Pacifica were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 2140. That's gonna last until next year; you're gonna be in here regurgitating T'Kara, talkin' about, you know, the pre-Romulan War utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
Finnegan: Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because T'Kara drastically underestimates the impact of social -
Spock: "T'Kara drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially wealth in non-replicated goods"? You got that from Grey's "Work in Berengaria Colony," page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you, is that your thing, you come into a synthale bar, read some obscure passage and then pretend - you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls, embarrass my friend?
See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you're gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that, and two, you dropped four years on a f***in' Academy education you could have got for free at Memory Alpha!
Finnegan: Yeah, but I will be a Starfleet Officer. And you'll be servin' my kids protein cubes at a replimat on our way to a skiing trip to Rigel X.
Spock: That may be, but at least I won't be unoriginal. But I mean, if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside - we could figure it out.
Finnegan: No, man, there's no problem. It's cool.
Spock: It's cool?
Finnegan: Yeah.
Spock: Cool.
Kirk: Fuckin' damn right it's cool. How you like me NOW?
McCoy: My green-blooded boy's wicked smart!
