You don't need OOP to do anything! But in the state machine example, it provides a coherent and readily understandable metaphor (object modifies its own private

You don't need OOP to do anything! But in the state machine example, it provides a coherent and readily understandable metaphor (object modifies its own private state; callers can tell it what to do but not how) for the task at hand. Isn't that the goal of a programming paradigm?