Since its conception in the mid 1950s, artificial intelligence has always been a hugely exciting, cross-disciplinary research endeavor. As the technology-driven modern world creates artifacts demonstrating increasing levels of sophistication and, perhaps, intelligence, it is necessary for practitioners in several fields to be familiar, to some degree, with some of the fundamental problems and challenges in the field of artificial intelligence. The goal in this paper is to highlight some of the foundational issues in the field of artificial intelligence and to reflect on the role of artificial intelligence in the context of a rapidly advancing modern world where breakthroughs such as memristive nano-devices enthuse practitioners beyond the realms of science fiction.