Reasoning is a human, social and embodied activity. TFA is about machines that output text reminiscent of the results of reasoning, but it's obviously fake since the machine is neither human, social or embodied.
It's an attempt at fixing perceived problems with the query planner in an irreversibly compressed database.
I'm afraid it's not so clear. There are different perspectives on this.
For one, apart from humans, some animals, and now LLMs, there are but few entities that are able to apply reasoning. It may well be that reason is something that exists universally, but empirically this sounds a bit unlikely.
There's a sort of existential dread once man has created a machine that can perform on par with man himself. We don't want to face the truth so we move the goal posts and definitions.
To reason is now a human behavior. We moved the goal posts so we don't have to face the truth that AI crossed a barrier with the creation of LLMs. It doesn't really matter, there's no turning back now.
We can create beings "on par with man himself". If you ask around where you live someone will likely be able to show you some small ones and might perhaps introduce you to the activity that brings them to life.
I think the perspective is diametrically opposite to what you’re suggesting. It’s saying things that human do are not singular or sacrosanct. It’s a full acceptance that humanity will be surpassed.
Some people used to believe that. They imagined reason to be divine, hence the prime status of Aristotle and reason in roman catholicism.
But God is dead and has been for some time. You can try to change that if you want, but hitherto none of the prominent professional theologians have managed to wrestle with modern physics, feminist critique, the philosophies of suspicion or capitalism itself and reached a convincing win. Maybe you're the one, you should try and perhaps you'll at least become a free spirit.
It's an attempt at fixing perceived problems with the query planner in an irreversibly compressed database.