This exploration of possible information and communications developments in the future focuses on the picture of the family or individual depending on access to information as a key to their status in society. The scenario involves the home as the center for conducting business, banking, shopping, and receiving lifelong education, and this paper explores the questions of whether this is an accurate picture, how it is to be accomplished, and what sort of timetable it will entail. Distribution, storage, and control technologies are discussed, including broadcast transmissions; Multipoint Distribution Services (MDS) and Instructional Television Fixed Services (ITFS); direct broadcast satellites; cable television; fiber optics; radio and television subcarriers; teletext and videotex; home computers; videodiscs; video cassettes; high definition television; and "smart cards," i.e., small computer chips imbedded between the plastic layers of bank and credit cards. A brief look at implications of the information and communications revolution for society concludes the paper. (THC)