Can I use the equals method in its original form?

Yes, but only if you want to compare references to objects.

The original equals() method in the Object class by default compares object identity, i.e., it checks whether two variables refer to the same object in memory.

// Example of Object.equals() behavior
Object obj1 = new Object();
Object obj2 = new Object();
Object obj3 = obj1;

// Compares references
System.out.println(obj1.equals(obj2)); // false (different objects)
System.out.println(obj1.equals(obj3)); // true (same object)

In most cases, you will need to override the equals() method in your own classes to implement logic for comparing objects based on their content, not reference. When overriding equals(), it is also important to override hashCode() to maintain the contract.