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(Very) Odd Neighbors
by Dick Bain, Hickory, NC.,USA
The unusual-neighbors-next-door idea has been the theme of many a movie and TV show. But it would be hard to imagine neighbors as odd as some neighbors mentioned in The Urantia Book. They live on a 'nearby' planet and they are called nonbreathers. Intelligent will creatures come in many sizes and styles to fit their planet's conditions but, according to the authors, of all other mortals the nonbreathers are the most radically different from us.
The most outstanding difference is that, since their worlds lack an atmosphere, they don't breathe. Most people are aware that our human bodies use the food we eat and oxygen from the air to produce the energy to power our bodies. But how do the nonbreathers get the energy to power theirs? In fact, the nonbreathers get energy from the same source that we do, but we get the energy second or third hand. In plants, the process of photosynthesis uses the energy of the sun, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil in a complex process to synthesize the starches and sugars needed to power the plant. We eat either the plants themselves, or animals that eat the plants to recover the solar energy. The nonbreathers, we are informed by the author of Paper 49, Pg. 563, get their energy directly from the sun with the help of the Master Physical Controllers. Is it possible that they use something like photosynthesis? Might there be little green men after all? If they do use something like photosynthesis, where would they get the carbon dioxide to use in the process? There is another possibility. Our scientists fabricated solar cells many years ago that convert light directly to electricity. Interestingly, electricity is created at one stage of photosynthesis, and researchers are studying photosynthesis to see if they might be able to create a biological electrical power generator using photosynthesis. There are several problems with our neighbors using photosynthesis as we know it. The first is that it requires water in its initial stages. There is no atmosphere to hold water vapor, and liquid bodies of water can't exist on the surface of an airless planet but water may exist in a frozen state under the surface of such a planet, left over from a time when the planet had an atmosphere. Another problem with photosynthesis is that it requires carbon dioxide for the carbon fixing process. Again, if the temperature is low enough, carbon dioxide can exist as a frost above or below the surface of the planet. It is possible that the heat of the sun might slowly release this carbon dioxide, making it available to our nonbreather neighbors. Another possibility is that our neighbors' bodies may be able to convert sunlight to electricity and use this form of energy directly to perform the vital functions of life. Possibly, but they might also use the electricity to convert raw materials to substances suitable to power their bodies in a process similar to photosynthesis. But excluding water and carbon dioxide, where did they get the raw materials?
We can be sure that our neighbors don't have any lungs since they don't breathe, and from that we might surmise that they don't have a mouth, but that may be incorrect. Their bodies might be powered directly from electricity, but where did the raw material come from to produce their bodies? One source is from the plants and animals that inhabit their world. The Urantia Book says that they don't eat food and drink water as we do but they must get their body building materials from somewhere. They might take in minerals directly from the soil of their planet but that seems like a difficult process. Since the plants and animals have concentrated the needed building materials in their bodies, it would be logical to consume them, but only for the materials, not for the energy as we do. If this surmise is correct, then we would also have to suppose that they have some sort of digestive system to process the food just as we do, and an excretory system to dispose of wastes. This indicates that they would have to have openings to the outside in their bodies just as we do. Since they live in a vacuum, we might assume their inner bodies have to be sealed to prevent their insides from exploding out into the vacuum. But it is possible that the pressure within their bodies is very low, so there isn't a great pressure differential between the outside and the inside. And of what might their bodies consist? Are they constructed of cells as are our bodies?
To answer the question about the tissues of the nonbreathers, it would be helpful to inquire about the nonbreathers origins. It would seem logical that they evolved from simpler life forms as we did. It is probable that the life carriers implanted single celled life on their world as on ours, and that through evolution this single celled life evolved in steps, eventually producing the nonbreathers. It would seem evident therefore that their bodies consist of cells just as do our bodies. If they are composed of cells, just how do those cells receive energy?
The circulatory system in the human body serves many purposes. It carries oxygen and nutrients to all the cells in the body, removes waste carbon dioxide from the cells, carries hormones to various organs, helps the body regulate its temperature, etc. In fact, the blood itself is seen as an organ of the body. Do the non-breathers have a circulatory system similar to ours? If they do not, it is hard to imagine how all the functions performed by ours are accomplished. How could heat be removed from the organs and muscles and dissipated to the world outside the body? Even with a circulatory system, removing heat from an object in a vacuum is a formidable task. The side that is in the sun gets overheated, and the side in the shade is very cold. Our bodies lose heat through the evaporation of perspiration into the air but the nonbreathers would have to lose or gain heat through radiation from the skin and perhaps in the area where the feet contact the ground. The communications satellites orbiting our planet sometimes are designed to lose heat by painting one side dark and the
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