Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and the Moral Circle

To put it simply, the moral circle is the people we care about. Our understanding of it is usually based on William Lecky's History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne. William observes that "at one time the benevolent affections embrace merely the family, soon the circle expanding includes first a class, then a nation, then a coalition of nations, then all humanity, and finally […] the dealings of man with the animal world." In other words, each individual's circle grows as that individual grows older. Just as humanity's moral circle expands from age to age.