Não When I was a little boy (maybe 5 years old) I was learning how to count from zero to ten and I was having a hard time to count straight. I knew the name of the numbers but my problem was to figure out the right sequence.
Then I asked a little help to my father and he counted in a slowly way to show me how to do it. In a while I figured it out and then I asked to him until what number he could count. He calmly said he could count to infinity. And I was in awe!
I was not in awe about learning what infinity is. In fact I could not remember how I understood the concept of infinity. I don't even remember if I had to learn it at all! This is my oldest memory about infinity and I already knew it. I couldn't count to ten but I already understood the concept of infinity.
And my concept of infinity never needed to be improved. Of course I learned about mathematical applications to it but the concept itself is still the same in my mind just it was when I was a little boy.
In a biological sense I can trace the evolution of my eyes and knees to a long chain of animals. We know almost anything about our animal bodies and we can trace it down to other animals.
But how and where came from this property to know about infinity?
No other animal can do such thing.
And if we search how we learned it we only find that it simply appeared in our minds.
And this is not some trivial knowledge like swimming to the surface or hold the breath under water.
This is one of the most complex and sophisticated concepts of the human mind.
And it's not the only exotic property in our minds.
What about justice? Liberty? Artistic beauty? The awareness of our deaths? The search for meaning? Introspection? Imagination? Intricated concepts of past and future?
To what animals can we trace such things?
Until now we can't even trace these properties to our neurons! No scanner can say if I'm thinking about infinity or the meaning of life.