A revolution in information and communications technologies may be offering an improved chance for the fulfillment of basic human needs. At the same time, it is creating more complex and impactful systems, which are likely to exacerbate problems and threaten to widen the gap between rich and poor countries. Informatics is defined to include social impacts as well as technical systems. Because of the broad impacts of informatics, social orders are being profoundly changed. Societies wishing to be prepared will need to increase their learning and planning capacities. Rather than considering how to remain outside the informatics revolution, countries must determine in which ways they wish to participate. There is a need for countries to define their national informatics policies.