They most certainly can!
There is an ongoing experiment in heat toleration ongoing as we "speak" - with a sample size of 330,000,000. The test is to slowly increase their water temperature VERY slowly at first, and then ramping up the degree of temperature increase as time goes on. The 7-year experiment is nearly over, as the temp now nears the boiling point.
I’m surprised no one picked up on your post, which is an analogy to the political trick of how to boil a frog so that the frog doesn’t realize it’s being cooked until it is too late.
Applied to an entire U.S. population of 330,000,000 which seems blissfully unaware to being slowly boiled in an encroaching Obama dictatorship.
On topic, I like spicy food but not hot-hot. Cremating the taste buds does not IMHO contribute to enjoying the food.