| Sumario: | Part of Foreign Affairs's 75th anniversary issue. Humanity is now living in the third great revolution in history, the Information Age. As in past revolutions, technology is fundamentally affecting the world economy, military strategy, and the sovereignty of governments. The agricultural and industrial revolutions were huge movements that took centuries to unfold, and each resulted in a change in the power structure; today, information technology has eliminated time and distance. In the Industrial Revolution, three pillars of order emerged—national sovereignty, national economies, and military power—but the information revolution has increased the power of individuals and rendered old hierarchies outmoded. Despite the advances and changes wrought by science, there is still no substitute for courage and leadership in tackling the new difficulties and opportunities that the world presents.
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