This is somewhat possible, but it's a rather complicated process:
In mod settings you can define a list of techs that should be default blacklisted (although this will apply to all your games, peaceful or not). You'll need to know the ID of the tech (not just the localized name), which can be found in the localization files of the game (at work, can't check exact path to these files, but if you can search file contents you could try searching for e.g. "=Automation").
I know it's not the simplest of configs, but it's difficult to make this in a userfriendly way that works regardless of what mods the user may otherwise have. There are also a ton of possible good setups, for example, I rarely research shotgun techs as I never use shotguns. When I play Brave New World (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/brave-new-world) I don't research armor stuff, etc.
