The topic of this book is "social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom," to use the noble words of the preamble to the United Nations Charter. The book is organized around the six core values that form the basis of the Millennium Declaration, adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000.

These six core values are freedom, solidarity, quality, tolerance, respect for nature and our shared responsibility, and each will serve as the basis for a chapter.

More than forty years ago, in 1962, then-Secretary-General U Thant warned that an explosion of violence could occur as a result of the sense of injustice felt by those living in poverty and despair, in a world of plenty.

Today, both the risk and the potential for a solution have increased. Information technologies bring to our living rooms, and even our breakfast tables, glimpses of events from every corner of the globe. More people, in more places, know what is possible, and what is possible for each and every person has expanded almost exponentially.

Information technologies can help us to overcome the obstacles to development caused by isolation and by lack of information. Or they can contribute to a world where the rich get richer, while the poor and the disenfranchised fall further behind.

If we are to ensure that the noble aims of the Millennium Declaration are to be met, and that the tools we now have at our disposal are put to best use, we must think clearly, work cooperatively and build creative partnerships with civil society and the private sector.