A philosophy of work

Source: MIT News - AI

Overview

What makes work valuable?
Michal Masny, the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellow in the MIT Department of Philosophy, investigates the role work plays in our lives and its impact on our well‑being.

The Benefits of Work

Masny sees numerous benefits to work beyond a paycheck. It is a space for people to:

• develop excellence at something,
• make a social contribution,
• gain social recognition, and
• create and sustain community.

“Consider a future in which we shorten the work week, or one in which we eliminate work altogether,” Masny says. “I don’t believe either of these scenarios would be unambiguously good for everyone.”

“Work is both necessary and positively valuable,” he argues, further suggesting that our lives might be worsened if we were to eliminate work completely. “There can be optimal combinations of work and leisure time.”

Current Role & Teaching

Masny is completing his two‑year term in the NC Ethics of Technology Fellowship at the end of the spring semester. In addition to advancing his research, he has been fostering dialogue and educating students on issues at the intersection of philosophy and computing. This semester he teaches the undergraduate course 24.131 (Ethics of Technology).

A New Approach to Education

Masny advocates for an updated approach to educating complete, socially aware students.

“I want to create scientists who think about their projects and potential outcomes as lawyers and philosophers might, and vice versa,” he says.

He argues for eliminating the “wisdom gap” between these groups, citing Carl Sagan’s warning about the dangers of becoming “powerful without becoming commensurately wise” as scientific and technological advances continue.

“The traditional division of labor is that scientists and engineers invent new technologies, and then philosophers and lawyers evaluate and regulate them.
But the pace at which new technologies are invented and deployed has made this division of labor untenable.”

The NC Ethics of Technology Fellowship

Established in 2021 with support from the NC Cultural Foundation, the fellowship aims to advance critical discourse and research in the ethics of technology and AI at MIT, and to make important research and information available to the global community.

Supporter Spotlight – Songyee Yoon

Venture capitalist Songyee Yoon, founder and managing partner of AI‑focused investment firm Principal Venture Partners, supports the fellowship. She believes technology and scientific discovery are among humanity’s most valuable public goods, and that artificial intelligence represents the most consequential technology of our time.

“If we want the fabric of our society to be built responsibly, we must train our builders upstream, at the very moment they begin learning to design and scale technology. There is no better place to begin this work than MIT,” she says.
“Supporting the Ethics of Technology Fellows Program was born from that conviction, and I am deeply encouraged to see it embraced at MIT.”

“In philosophy, you’re supposed to question everything”

Masny arrived at MIT in fall 2024 after a year as a postdoc at the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public (UC Berkeley). Originally from Poland, he earned his PhD in philosophy from Princeton University, following studies at Oxford University and the University of Warwick.

His research focuses on:

• value theory,
• ethics of technology,
• social and political philosophy,
• the nature of human and animal well‑being,
• obligations to future generations,
• the risk of human extinction,
• the future of work, and
• anti‑aging technology.

During his fellowship, Masny has published several articles on ethical issues concerning the future of humanity—topics closely relevant to existential risks of AI development and deployment.

“In philosophy, you’re supposed to question everything,” he says.

Teaching & Mentorship Highlights

• Fall 2024: Co‑taught the introductory undergraduate course STS.006J/24.06J (Bioethics) with Robin Scheffler, associate professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
• 2024‑25 Academic Year: Led the student research group “Deepfakes: Ethical, Political, and Epistemological Issues” as part of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) Scholars Program.
• Spring 2025: Students presented project findings at the MIT Ethics of Computing Research Symposium (hosted by the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing).
• Summer 2025: Assisted with the summer course 24.133/134 (Experiential Ethics), where students subject their CS/engineering projects to ethical scrutiny with the help of trained philosophers.

Masny is encouraged by the opportunities to test his ideas and share them with people who can help refine and improve them.

Communities of Practice and Engagement

Reflecting on the value of his MIT experience, Masny lauds the philosophy department and the myriad opportunities to collaborate with scholars from diverse fields. He emphasizes the need to “range further afield” and to connect his findings on work, its value, and the human impact of technology on social lives.

“Typically, undergraduate philosophy courses include two hour‑long lectures followed by discussion; a lecture is like an audiobook,” he says. “Instead, they should be more like listening to a podcast or watching a talk show.”

“I want the class to be an event in a student’s schedule,” he continues.

Masny is also considering how to integrate valuable philosophical tools into life outside the classroom. He believes developing a philosopher’s mindset is a net positive: designing better questions can lead to better, more insightful answers and improve students’ ability to identify challenges.

Masny will begin teaching at the University of Colorado at Boulder in fall 2026, where he plans to test new ideas while continuing his research into the value of work.

Kieran Setiya, the Peter de Florez Professor in Philosophy and head of the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, says the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship has allowed MIT to bring in a series of exceptional young philosophers working at the intersection of ethics and AI, studying the systemic effects of new computing technologies and the moral, social, and political challenges they pose.

“This is just the kind of applied interdisciplinary thinking we need to support and sustain at MIT,” he adds.