Earlier quoted context omitted.
Official docker image for node is built from Alpine or Debian [1] Forgive me if I don't believe that running a full OS on a host OS to run a single node command doesn't amount to running a VM. [1] https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/main/20
It doesn't run a full OS. Merely the nodejs binary with all it's dependencies. You can think of Docker containers as a way to package an application dependencies, ending at the (Linux) kernel API/ABI.
As in: "a completely different node js binary in its own environment, its own networking, its own file system overlay etc."