I would still say that performing the demonstrations does have value and real-world impact. In particular: If you're planning a secure facility and considering

I would still say that performing the demonstrations does have value and real-world impact. In particular: If you're planning a secure facility and considering whether to invest in e.g. temperature isolation, you can point out to the published demonstration as a justification for the expense. If there was no actual real-world demonstration in the public literature, someone could argue that the attack is purely theoretical, or that it would require so much resources that no one would bother, etc. In this sense, it is even better that it is a minimal-effort demonstration, which you don't need that much expertise to pull off. There have been many funded research projects with lot less impact...