"The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man that can not read them." - Mark Twain
They're illiterate, which is a tragedy.
Unless they grew up in a culture of oral history, in which case they may know a great many things.
i don't mean to alarm you, but i think you're failing the literacy test
Although the common definition of illiterate is unable to read and write, at least one dictionary also defines it (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/illiterate) also being used as having very little or no education or/and showing lack of culture.
I suppose we could abstract this to "you are your experiences, even if you don't always remember them."
The anecdote at the end of the post expands it to what we hear/learn in general.