Like I said, I can't explain it in a short comment--I've written an entire book on the subject. Regardless, yes--much of scientific interpretation of observations is unequivocally wrong.
The question of how we got so much to work technologically is because we have 1) observations that are basis for technology, and 2) very good approximations of how systems work within narrow bands of infinity.
For example, if someone recognizes electricity, they do not need to fundamentally understand it mechanically to use it technologically. They can grasp enough principles (conduction and insulation, voltage, etc.) to apply those understandings to create a device that uses electricity without ever actually having any grasp of what is actually happening.
This is a common misunderstanding; where the power of the observation itself is considered trivial whereas the interpretation of that observation is considered the true cause of technological advancement. This is not typically the case. Even when our interpretation leads to extrapolation that leads to technology, this is due to improving our approximate descriptions of the systems we are focused on to a degree where the approximation can be applied to a decipher other characteristics that are also related. Still, all models in physics are approximations that fall apart beyond a certain range of observations because they are not actual, real, tangible descriptions of what is but are precisely approximations.
What I have proposed above is perhaps the last thing I would talk about typically, as the order of operations is important. Starting at the end is not easy, I was just answering. "Fringe" is a matter of perspective. The Big Bang is as fringe as can be, a complete and utter non-reality that in no way describes any aspect of the nature of reality nor the actual mechanisms behind the observations it aims to utilize as its basis. From a purely philosophical standpoint, there is no difference between a 1 day old universe, a 6,000 year old universe, or a 15 billion year old universe. They are all nothing next to an eternal universe. Moreover, time is observer dependent and 15 billion years in our perception is an instant in another observer's and vice versa. Alas.
Thanks for sharing your take. For the record, I am not "religious". I just know God, and know God to be in everything--including the Bible. There is truth everywhere. These issues are not so simple, I do not in any way agree with human-based global warming. It is not remotely scientific. It is as if we understand how the universe functions exactly, when we do not. The truth is that it is an attempt to brainwash the general public to accept their own enslavement through further means of taxation and oppression by convincing enough people that "it is your fault" and "we will fix it, just pay us." Regarding natural selection, I wouldn't call something which science admits to be a theory "fact". When science knows it can't even call something that it wants to call a "fact", and has to admit it to be a "theory", its not due to lack of recognition of it as a fact. It's due to anomalies that simply cannot be overcome. However, that doesn't stop people from speaking of the theory as if it is factual and presenting their belief system into the mix while never addressing the anomalies.