I think you're confusing some things. First of all, "just uploading" the binary only works in languages with a very lazy approach to modularization, aka static

I think you're confusing some things. First of all, "just uploading" the binary only works in languages with a very lazy approach to modularization, aka static linking. But thinking that uploading binaries "works" is a fallacy in itself. Just look at the binaries you're producing, they probably have at least a couple of dynamically linked dependencies. Second, interpreted languages could work in exactly the same way. I am not sure, but I think there are tools in Javascript land that gobble all dependencies together into one script. But even with python or lisp, you could easily copy the whole folder (venv in Python lingo) around. If you need to, just add an interpreter as well. Finally, even Docker doesn't guarantee you perfect portability. Every application you code also has an implicit dependency on the kernel ABI. It's just that Linus et. al. do a really good job at avoiding ABI breakage. That's why you so often succeed in copying binary code around.