For years he was an academic superstar, a prodigy. But after rumors that what he boasted of was a lie came to light, he suddenly became a pariah, an outcast. On Friday, Jason Arday, 41, was found dead at his home in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. Everything suggests he committed suicide.

Jason Arday is a British sociologist who has resigned from his position as a Cambridge professor amid accusations of plagiarism. At first glance, it would not be a transcendental news story if it were not for the convoluted story behind it. The academic, globally recognized for being the youngest Black person to teach at the prestigious university, has been forced to leave the institution, not only due to doubts surrounding his academic work but also his life trajectory. The scandal it has generated represents one of the most dramatic cases in the history of British academia.

A woman named Katarzyna Basinska, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in England, one day, having no idea what to do, invented a computer procedure that, she claims, will allow us to speak with the deceased. It's yet another symptom of the discrediting of religions and the long-ago diagnosed "death of God." Or a blasphemous impersonation. Or a complete nonsense.