Thought experiments are useful, for expanding logical conclusions verbally that are otherwise expressed too densely for some ppl.
For example, a friend once said angrily, " I just found out that vaccine causes autism!" That was the first I'd heard that but knew it couldn't be true given the fact that vaccines do almost nothing and autism is a permanent trait, not a temporary set of symptoms.

Anyway, I told her that, if there are any kids with autism who have never been vaccinated, that would basically negate that hypothesis. She said, "I know for a fact there are. I know several of them. But still, you never know." I wanted to say, "Actually, sometimes you know with mathematical certainty", but when ppl are scared or angry, logic is almost useless. That is when thought experiments are necessary. A thought-experiment that utilizes the same type of abstraction can be a verbal mirror of the logic of the concept.