This paper describes how the information revolution is undermining the ancient dictates of natural geography and political borders by shifting the balance of wealth and strength among nations, challenging established institutions and values, and redefining the agenda of political discourse. It is argued that if we are to seize the opportunities and understand the problems this new phase of technological transformation brings, we must grasp both its particulars and its broad outlines. The paper briefly discusses the technological, economic, political, and social dimensions of the new information age. It also reflects on some of the deeper economic and political challenges introduced by the new age and briefly considers America's response to these challenges. The paper includes discussions of the challenge to individuals and the need for an entrepreneurial spirit; the global free world challenge with respect to free trade; the relationship between individual rights and economic dynamism in terms of fundamental freedoms; the necessity for all nations--free and unfree, developing and developed--to confront the issue of international trade; and the development of a new consciousness and the challenge posed by the new information age to the individual human imagination. (THC)