that there are three stages of social evolution that humankind passes through, and placed special emphasis on scientific thought, industrialization, modernization, and general reform. These characteristics in particular helped it spread to Brazil following the Paraguayan War (1865–1870), when many Brazilians questioned the foundations of their society. Rondon first encountered positivism in 1885 as a student at the Military Academy in Rio de Janeiro, where it was taught as a form of spreading republicanism. He converted and became part of a growing group of Positivist officers and cadets at the academy. Although Brazilian enthusiasm for positivism was already on the decline by 1891, Rondon became a passionate lifelong member of the Orthodox Positivist Church, believing that Brazil, and the world with it, would eventually accept positivism because it was so rational. Positivism ultimately shaped Rondon's outlook on life, his ideas about interracial relations, and his plans for national development. He once told his men that he wanted to create a “political utopia,” and believed that his telegraph line aided in the evolution of humanity due to the large number of tribes he came in first contact with during the project. Unfortunately, Rondon's positivism ultimately led to fights with officials in the more powerful Catholic Church, limiting the influence and impact of his work in the long term. The Indian Protection Service (SPI) Rondon was invited to be the founding leader of the Serviço de Proteção ao Índio (SPI), the Indian Protection Service, by the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Rodolfo Miranda in 1910. On accepting the position, Rondon explained to Miranda the importance of Positivism in his policies with the organization. He believed that, rather than allow Christian missionaries to forcibly assimilate the indigenous peoples, the best method would be to gradually and nonviolently lead them by example into the more civilized world. Rondon and other Positivists argued for the protection of indigenous peoples and the defense of their lands, saying that rather than being racially inferior, they were simply at an earlier stage of Positivist evolution. Rondon led the organization until the Brazilian Revolution of 1930, leaving many of his initial plans to be only in theory. The goal of SPI was to protect the well-being of natives, and Rondon created its motto: “die if need be, never kill.” Reports published as late as 1960 declared that the SPI had “entirely reached its objectives without betraying” this slogan, even claiming