While America is generally the home of tech developments thanks to companies like Facebook and Twitter, it's behind other countries in average Internet speeds and in STEM jobs. But is America actually anti-technology?
That's what PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel thinks, according to the Washington Examiner. Thiel recently made an appearance at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University to talk with Mercatus Center chairman Tyler Cowen about the "future of innovation." During his speech, he told the audience that he believes Americans in general are opposed to technology progression.
"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," the entrepreneur said.
Thiel believes that this fear is particularly present when one considers how Americans won't consider using gene editing. He also believes that Obama's 2008 campaign is a perfect example of this anti-technology sentiment.
"The 2008 Obama presidential campaign, the initial slogan was 'hope and change'," he said. "The slogan at the end was, 'the change we need.' So the slogan changed from the maximal, 'hope and change,' to the absolutely minimal, 'the change we need,' because the word 'change' poll-tested very badly. Because if you're a politician, and if you speak in front of people and say, 'Everything is going to change. Your biology is going to change, your genes are going to change, you need to stop building cars and [start] working with computers.' ... People do not want change in our society. That's the big cultural challenge we have."
Thiel also had some choice words for the American education system, the Federal Reserve and anyone who believed that America is actually using a democratic system.
