It is not absurd. Generally, if humans can do it, it is a reasonable task for NLP to attempt.
Yes you can present edge cases where there is no definite answer, like the one you cite, but this doesn't mean that the task in general is impossible or useless.
Yes you can present edge cases where there is no definite answer, like the one you cite, but this doesn't mean that the task in general is impossible or useless.