Here is an Isaac Asimov quote I was a little unclear on, and a following explanation from a member at one of my forums. It came up during an evolution-creation debate. More info on oblate spheroids.
When people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.
Isaac Asimov, 1988.
My statement: Please clarify, I thought the earth was an oblate spheroid.
Answer:
An oblate spheriod, and slightly pear-shaped, to boot. So yes, it’s not a sphere. But it’s much closer to being a sphere than it is to being flat. More importantly, the determination that the Earth was a sphere was done by observation and experimentation. It is incorrect only due to the limitations of the observational equipment.
The Earth being flat is quite obviously wrong with the smallest amount of investigation. The Earth being spherical is wrong when examined quite carefully and precisely. There is a quantitive difference in the “wrongness” of those two positions.
It’s like Newtonian mechanics is wrong, but still useful for terrestrial movement. A spherical earth is a useful simplification for navigational purposes. A flat Earth is not a useful model for anything much.