Most Americans view the technology- driven future with a sense of hope.

They just don’t want to live there.

That paradoxical view—future technology sounds awesome, but it’s not for me—is one major finding from an exclusive new national survey conducted by Smithsonian and the Pew Research Center. The opinion poll involved 1,001 people interviewed in February by landline or cellphone.

Almost 60 percent of respondents said technology would improve life in the future—roughly twice as many as those who said it would make things worse. But driverless cars? Lab-produced meat? Brain implants just to get smarter or improve memory? No thanks.

If people had been asked specifically about future technologies that promise to alleviate current challenges, such as curing cancer or eliminating pollution, the respondents would presumably have embraced such changes without reservation.

But the new survey, done for this special issue about the links between science and science fiction, was intended to reveal public attitudes about future technologies envisioned in sci-fi movies and literature. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, says “the things we asked about were not mere conveniences or little incremental advances, but big, imaginative stuff.”

And that stuff, ranging from robotic caregivers to commercial or personal drones flying in U.S. airspace, gave people pause.

Giving respondents a chance to unleash their own imaginations, they were asked what life-changing invention they would like to see. Two ideas tied for first place, with 9 percent apiece. One was right out of science fiction—time travel—whereas the other was as old as the hills, the wish to improve health and boost longevity.

But 39 percent didn’t name anything, perhaps suggesting that they are content with things as they are or, as Steve Jobs said, “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”