Ultimately, the fairest metric is expansion of capabilities. When more people can live lives they have reason to value—Sen’s phrase in Development as Freedom (1999)—culture has moved forward. That progress will look plural, not uniform: languages revitalized without scapegoating, faith observed without coercion, innovation adopted without contempt for elders. In that steady braid of kindness and reason, inheritance becomes invitation rather than idol, and a community’s future is shaped by its most humane arguments. [...]
