If a person reads a lot of theory about how to swim, different types of techniques, other people’s written experiences etc., can they swim if thrown in a deep swimming pool? Or, at least, be able to swim enough to reach the steep end and save themselves from drowning?
By “a lot”, I mean spending over 6 months to a year, gaining theoretical knowledge. And when we throw them in the pool, they are willing to try it, as in, “I have learnt enough, and I am willing to try it out.”
That practice isn’t just reading or watching to learn. That practice is the motor skill development necessary to apply what you have learned.
Which means the answer would still be no because you are cheating by practicing. You did not just learn about it by watching videos and reading, You learned about it through development of motor skills through practice.
You have not “learned to swim” by only reading & watching at that point. You have learned to swim the way everyone else does, but being in water and practicing.
Which is opposite to the presented problem.
To stick to the spirit of the question, learning to swim without ever swimming would be dropping yourself into the middle of a lake after reading and watching about swimming. And then you either learned about it and you swim away or you didn’t and you drown.
We all know how ridiculous that is because you would just drown. Because you would have not learned how to swim just by reading about it and watching others.