I'm a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT. From August 2026, I will be an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley's Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, and did a PhD in Philosophy at Princeton University.
Here is my CV. My email is mmasny@mit.edu.
My research addresses three topics in moral and political philosophy: well-being, the future of humanity, and work.
My doctoral research examined a range of theoretical issues concerning well-being and the future of humanity: the significance of a life's shape; the relevance of 'wasted potential' for well-being; individual and collective meaning; comparisons between human and animal well-being; the value of societal progress; reasons to prevent the extinction of humanity; and the desirability of life extension technology.
My postdoctoral project expands my research on well-being and the future into the domain of work. Currently, I am writing a series of papers about the role that paid work plays in our lives, the impact of technological and social transformations on our opportunities to attain various non-monetary goods of work, and the desirability of a world without paid work.
I am originally from a small town near Warsaw, Poland. My first name, Michał, is pronounced there 'Mee-how', but abroad I go by 'Michael'.
I'm a lifelong runner, and enjoy racing marathons and ultramarathons. On the ultramarathon side, I've done several 50Ks, one 50-miler, two 100K races, and two 100-milers.