PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel described American opposition to technology and progress as a cultural challenge during an interview Tuesday.

“Our culture dislikes technology in all its forms,” Thiel said Tuesday at an event organized by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. “Look at just the science fiction films. They basically portray technology that does not work. It’s dystopian. It kills people. It’s ‘The Matrix,’ ‘The Terminator,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Elysium.’ I watched the ‘Gravity’ movie the other day; you would not want to go into space, you’d want to be back on this muddy island here. That is sort of the dominant trope in our society. It is a society that does not want change. It does not believe in progress.”