Just in case you didn't pick up on it the info relayed by BigJet and other is just what it says it is; the consensus of current thought. It was based on reported injuries, accidents, and successful dives.
Note that there is no mandatory reporting of dive accidents, per se. Nor is there a single agency that does accident investigation and analysis. So there is no assurance that all accidents have been reported. Nor is there assurance that the true cause of an accident attributed to diving has been discovered. So there may be more or less accidents and injuries than reported. Diving caused accidents as contrasted to accidents that coincidentally occured while diving but were not caused by diving may be more or less than reported.
So, while some may interpret the Consensus as a Firm Rule that just is not the case. It is an attempt by reasonably well informed, thoughtful people to give divers like us some guidelines; nothing more or less.
Under the proper circumstances a diver can probably cut the wait time to 18 hours, or less maybe. But, the longer the wait the greater the safety margin. This is a hobby for all of us who aren't getting paid to dive. So, why not use at least 24 hours and do an even better job of stacking the odds in our favor?
Oh yes, don't forget the dive shop or charter boat operator who is suggesting you do that extra day of diving gets the extra money, but doesn't have to pay for the chamber ride, or suffer the consequences of a DCS hit.